Rabbi Eli Mansour | Elul Night of Inspiration

Hey, good evening everyone. Please find their seats about to begin. Welcome everyone to tonight's special l night of inspiration to a special night of of kizuk of inspiration of unity. everyone together. Of course, all the breakfast that we're going to make in together in the back and all the learning tonight is dedicated for the 20th yard site of AB sponsored by the family. Let's give a round of applause family for a decade. [applause] He says if a person wants to do something for for for a loved one, for a relative, for a family member. So think what can they do? Of course we know the greatest the greatest mitzvah, the greatest deed that we can do is of course learning. But not only learning this is learning of the raim. So many people together of all backgrounds are young and old. Everyone's coming together to learn tonight. So it's a big of course Shamal. Amen. And of course, we want to thank Kazak and Morai and for for for tonight's event. And we're all going to be growing together tonight. And and of course, we're thinking of all we're all thinking of of we're thinking of the upcoming year. We're thinking of oursel, my year, my my my my children's year, my family's year. But of course, we know that Hashem acts measure for measure. And and if and if we are gonna if we are going to say to oursel we're going to take upon oursel one thing for for for the coming year and we say hashem I'm not only going to take care of my own family I'm going to take care of of my neighbors of my friends of of client's family their children and then of course then hashem booing back we'll take care of our own children of course when the start of the school year is just a few days away and of course everyone knows of a friend neighbor co-orker who has children in public school give them a referral referral to Kazak. Kazak has over 18 different Sunday school after school programs for these public school students. Has transferred over 2,500 students from public school to Shiva, which is a great accomplishment, but but it's just a it's just a drop of of the potential of of of of what could be done. So, of course, everyone um should should know about that. And we're and one second and and we're going to call upon um the the son of Ben Tel for for some for some opening remarks. Let's give a round of applause, please. [applause] Okay, I'm [snorts] not going to take much time. Thank you guys for coming from my father's shalom. Just two words. My father was born in 1944. He passed away when he was only 62. That was young. He never saw my children because he was blind when he died. But we as as his kids family, we try to carry on all his u you know all all his happiness for for the family. Uh and the the main reason why I was you know today is actually this week is actually 20 years since he passed away. It's a big number. That's how we decided to do something special in his is in his honors of doing Shama and we decided to call upon Rabbi because my entire family le heard about us our family. We grew up on Rabbi's you know teachings and and his huge and all his um you know uh you know in inspirational you know lessons. So that's why this was uh really you know what we call perfect match to to to bring you ra thank god that it worked out because I was told that during you don't even try because rabbi is so busy and thank you for coming to deal I know it's really hard for you but like you said we tried and then hashem answer and it wor work worked out I was surprised so so thank you for coming by you know thank you know I would like you to you know to kind of present to team for for you to I guess give us some some you know some special message. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Rosa. Amen. Hallelujah. It is not my custom to make uh domestic road trips during ul being that we're still in deal New Jersey and we're far away and I have to be the hazan tomorrow morning for city hall at 4:45 a.m. [snorts] So therefore, my schedule really does not allow me to be uh up late at night. This is past my bedtime. But I did make an exception and I'm glad I did. I didn't know the [snorts] significance of the 20th site and I was not aware of the impact that the shim have had on the family. So I'm glad that I acquies and will be not only for the deceased but more important for the living. I came to talk about an exceptional mitzvah in the Torah. It's one of the most rare mitzvot and the reason is is because it's a mitzvah. You see some mitzvot don't apply today. For example, the laws that we have in the beta mikdash, they don't apply when we have the beta mikdash don't come back into play. Most of the s of has no application although it did when there was a beta mdash certain mitzvah only apply under certain situations. So for example there's avoom but yum it's a circumstance you need a couple and god forbid the man has to die and he has to have a brother not everybody fulfills this type of mitzvah. There's a mitzvah of well you have to have a there's a lot of in the world but you have to find the right in order to fulfill this mitzvah and therefore not everybody has the ability to fulfill it certain mitzvah only kohanim can fulfill for example theatim every single day even though I get to sh very early I have no right to stand in front of the lift my hands up is although somebody in the nine o'clock mñan that last name is he has an advantage over me. So there's certain mitzvot that can only be fulfilled by certain people. But every mitzvah has an application at some point in time to some person. But the mitzvah that I came to talk about tonight is unique in that the Torah says clearly in the It never happened. Not only it never happened, but the Gibb predicts it never will happen. So it's what we call a theoretical theory. So the is a simple question. So if it never happened and is never going to happen, so why talk about it? What's the matter with having 612 mitzvot that apply somewhere at some place at some time? What do you need this theoretical mitzvah? So the says you know what study it learn it there's a few in the par which I'll read to you there's a couple of pages in the gim there's a whole pock dedicated to this topic study the topic and you'll get reward reward for what for learning [clears throat] and I have a simple question is there a shortage of Torah that we have that we need this extra uh theoretical situation to get extra bonus learning. Let's let's try to learn all the books in the library first and then we'll call the rabbi and say listen we ran out of curriculum we ran out of material. So you need to give me a case [clears throat] and the says well listen it and it'll only add bonus round to your reward in saying we have a lot of Torah to study. Now what is the case we're talking about? So the says we just read it. What is this case? So there's a boy, a young boy, not even maybe 12 years old or so. And the Torah tells us now that's not uncommon. That's I'm sorry to tell you especially in our generation it's not uncommon that children are disobedient to their parents. My generation it was less we had fear of our parents. Today unfortunately it has become less less uh uh careful which maybe is a good thing because says at the end of that when you start to see children disrespecting your parents you know that Msiah is coming. So I'm not telling the children to fulfill this prophecy but if you see it so then you know we're at the end of time. So that's not what makes this story unique. So they rebuke him. Predicts not only doesn't he listen in the past tense predicting he's never going to listen. So the parents grab him. And they take him to the say to the elders, "Our son is rebellious. He's wavered." And what does mean? >> Very good. He's a guzzler. So means he's a glutton. I'll explain to you what that means. According to the Gimal, the men besides his disrespect to his parents, he's bad habits. I guess today in the vernacular, we would say he has an addiction. It's not an addiction to drugs or gambling or another vice, but the gim says he likes to drink Italian wine. now. Okay. So, he's an alcoholic now he's only 12 years old and that's not outside of Purim maybe in the yeshiva and outside of the focus on pes a 12 year old and besides taking a sip of the Friday night wine really should not be guzzling uh expensive Italian wine. This is his habit. Furthermore, he's eating very, very special, unique, expensive meat, maybe wagoo or whatever they call it. And this is his custom. He comes up from school, you can find him in the bar, uh you can find him in the uh the in the fancy restaurant. He's a drinker and he's a glutton. Okay. Doesn't sound like a federal [clears throat] crime to me yet. The Gibb says what else does he do? Well, he has to fund his lifestyle. So, where's he going to get the money? His allowance will not be able to afford him these luxuries. So, the says he steals from his parents. So, he goes into his mother's pocketbook and he takes $100 here, $200 there. His mother doesn't suspect it initially. She blames it on the housekeeper and she says, "Well, the housekeeper must be stealing from us, but it's still worth it to keep her even though she steals cuz we need her." So therefore, the child is able to hide behind that and he's getting away with it. Finally, one day we have cameras. The mother sees that the the child is stealing hundreds of dollars. So, he's a thief. He's a drinker and he likes to eat good food. Now, what do you think Bet Dean would do with such a kid? I mean, there's really no major crime. If I had to write a summons, you know, as an officer of the court, what is he in contempt of? What did this kid do? Write him a summon for eating. Incidentally, the meat was kosher. I think it was so he doesn't need but the point is what did he do he drinks I'm sure he said the iron it's not but it has the stamp of stol okay you know what I would do if I was the rabbi of the court community service maybe let him work in the yeshiva has to serve lunch in the yeshiva for 6 months. Maybe even worse, maybe has to eat the lunch in the yeshiva. But the point is the Torah and hold on to your seats because the Torah has a much different opinion. Torah says, "Wow, they stone him to death." Now, don't jump out of your seats. Remember, it never happened. They stole him to death and you will eradicate the evil from your midst and all of Isel will hear about this case and they will be filled with fear. Well, I don't know what that means because Isel is not going to hear about this case because the case never happened. So even that is hypothetical. So, well, the gimbal said, so I'm listening to what the says, and that's what we came to do tonight. So, you're very lucky. We're going to get a lot of reward tonight. If the gam says, if you study this, you're going to get reward. Be prepared to fill your pockets with. You're going to leave tonight with your pockets filled with So consider yourself fortunate that we're involved in this directive of the let us begin. So why does he get such a punishment? To me it seems extreme. So the goes on, no, because the Torah is forecasting that if we let this boy continue on his dead egg, what's going to happen when he becomes 18 years old? They're going to kick him out of the house, but he's addicted already. And he needs money for the wine, and he needs money for the meat. But now he doesn't have access to his mother's pocketbook. So what is he going to do? He's going to see somebody at the crossroad and he's going to hold them up and mug him for his money like people who have addictions do. They'll do anything to get money to support the lifestyle. The person who's getting mugged is going to resist and there's going to be a scuffle. The probably because he's high and drunk, he's going to take out a knife and he's going to kill the victim and take his money and and move on. So the says today he's eating meat and drinking wine. But we see in the future one day this is going to be therefore the says kill him now when he's still innocent. So this is the theory of of of we're not killing him necessarily for something he's doing in the present but it's a future uh prediction uh future performance that hasn't happened yet but the sees what's going to be with him and therefore says we're not going to wait until he becomes a murderer we're going to kill him now can I ask a simple question this is a question that I heard from one of my rabbis in the name of Klasha of Leasha of America. Varin asked a very strong question. So you're killing him for a potential future murder. I understand. Now let's say if somebody actually murders, God forbid, what's his punishment? death by sword which is a less punishment than death by stoning. Surv asks if somebody actually kills he only gets and this is only a potential [snorts] he's going to come to do it he didn't do it yet and he gets a severe punishment more than what's the logic of this you want to tell me he's going to murder so we're going to get him now good s for for a punishable crime by if the crime is punishable by s sword why do you give which is the most severe punishment. This is a very strong question. But you know what the real question is? Well, you're going to figure it out when you get to the reading of Sha. On Sha, we have a special reading. You're going to read about how and were banished from the home of Abraham. Fine. So now Ishmael is in the field in the desert languishing away and he's dying of dehydration. So Hag and begin to pray for a miracle. Now even though there's no water in the midbad, but for God abad there could be, you know, a lake or a pond. It's easy. So they're praying. So now let me tell them what was going on in heaven at that time. So the Gab says the angels came to God and said don't answer him. God says why should you answer? He's praying. No, because in the future we see that the children of Ishmael one day are going to offer the Jewish people empty jugs >> of hot air and we're going to be thirsty and they're going to trick us into giving us these hot air jugs and we're going to open it up excited to drink and it's going to be empty. So the nation that's going to kill us by dehydration. So get him now. That means kill Yeshua for what his children are going to do in the future. So God says, "No, no, no, no, no. We have a rule. What's the rule? We don't judge people based on future performance. We base them on current activity." And right now he's a sadik. He's praying. He's uh he's penitent. is contrite finish. I'm [clears throat] asking a simple question. Make up your mind. When it comes to the sur how do we judge him future when it comes to I'm all confused. Will will the real judgment please stand up? How is God judged? Again, it doesn't bother me which way. Just tell me the way. But now we have a contradiction. The says, "Oh, be careful. You don't get judged for today. Only you get judged. So what you going to do in 20 years from now? But now I'm innocent. I don't care. 20 years. And what does teach me?" No, in 20 years your children will be very bad. No, right now you're good. And I think that's what we read on to remind everybody even though we might not be so good in February but in September we're good. We're in God we tell God look at us today we all have our suits on we all have a maz in front of us but the angel say but look at February look to vacation. No no no today they're in today they're listening to second day they're donating money. So it's a great lesson that is teaches us on it's present performance not future but the is the opposite. So this is a big question. You understand my question? >> I have about eight answers to this question but I'm not going to offer you all eight answers. Everybody's trying to reconcile this. [snorts] I recently saw an answer from a rabbi called Rabb Abraham Sabah. He was a rabbi from Portugal and earlier that Spain, one of the great commentators. He says that really the way God judges is like the future if we have to be careful because not necessarily what you're going to do today but you'll get to what you do in the future. I went about as an exception why because if you remember Abraham prayed to God please I want to live. So God said to Abraham, "No problem. You have it." So God already told Abraham, "I'm not going to kill Ishmael." So Ismael had a side deal. Really, God will judge like the says Ishmael. He had a special deal that made with God, not to kill him. So therefore, as a result of the prayer of Ismael, Mus dodge the bullet. That's Mo's answer. But I didn't come to say that answer there was a great rabbi called he wrote a commentary called whoever learns on the I'm teach you how to learn first you read right after you read the that's the way you learn in yeshiva the always explains rashi and elaborates and gives explanation. So on this story the says we have a contradiction from tosh and listen to what he answers he says really judges according to what you are in the present. Oh, not according to the future. That's why right now he was a right now he was innocent. Right now he was praying. Right now he was being a good boy. So God says I in the future. Okay, we'll worry about that in the future. I see what he says. He says that Ben is guilty in the present. Who said is innocent? Which means a person that positions himself in life where he's on a dic [clears throat] that will lead to mischievous and crime and sin that already is sinful. So the mistake we make is what did the men do? Eating a little wine, drinking wine, eating something. Hold it that already his trajectory is going to lead to sin. That is in itself. Which means not only is the crime sinful, but the lifestyle that leads to it is already considered guilty. And according to Rabbi Cutley, he says a big he says [cough] the potential of sin is even greater than the sin itself. Why? Because it's true if he kills actually it's but this boy is potentially capable of killing a hundred people. There's a difference between the and the is one action. You're right. It's punishable by but this person in his potential he's capable of killing many. Therefore, his punishment is that means living in a lifestyle that leads to crime and to sin is sinful. How do we know this? The Torah says where they learn the law of the Where's the Torah? It says, "What does that mean?" Simple. Don't eat blood. Okay, now you heard me. Don't eat blood. But the says don't eat in a way that one day will cause you to spill somebody's blood. That means do not become addicted to certain vices and lifestyles. That's an in itself. At his time, he was innocent. He wasn't causing anybody to be dehydrated. He wasn't depriving anybody FROM WATER. LATER ON it happened by his children. So God says right now Israel is good but the man right now he's considered living a life of sin already. [snorts] So the Torah says not that he's innocent. He's innocent from the act from the from the actual action but he's not innocent in his way. Based on this I need to tell you what my man writes and I don't think many people know this because the pas says from this hypothetical you could learn a lesson about yourself although it never happened but this teaches me a lesson because my writes that when you're going to make or this time of year most people make on actions this is a mistake Because actions they have a root and the root of all bad actions is mid is character. Bad character leads to bad action. And if you don't root the character out, making the action is like going to a mv still holding the shits. You got to let go of the Which means if you don't kill the cell, it'll just keep on metastasizing over and over again. So a person comes along and says, "Oh, I spoke." And he begs his chest even twice. But why do you speak and because you have jealousy? It's the jealousy that you have that cause to do that. But most people when it comes to the high holidays, they don't make the shuah to accept upon themselves to change a character. Everybody except in his introduction accept upon yourself something. So what are you thinking? I'm going to pray with I'm going to say I'm going to give. Nobody thought I'm not going to get angry. I'm not going to get jealous. I'm going to be a little more patient. I'm going to have to. We don't think like that. We think mid. Yeah, just being a nice person. She's a nice lady. But that doesn't make you religious. On the contrary, says the source of all criminal activity in Judaism begins with bad character. Mid and we don't even focus on it. We think mid is like a she's religious. He's religious. What about his character? Character not so good, but very religious. It's impossible. Person goes to the doctor. So the doctor says, "Oh, you have a cold." Okay, take the medicine. And the sugar. Two weeks later, it comes back. There's a cold. The medicine worked. It worked, but it came back. Recurring over and over again. Finally, the doctor asked a simple question. Can I tell you when you go to sleep? What's your practice? I sleep right next to the window. The windows open and the draft comes on my neck every night. So we could do this for a thousand years. You didn't tell me that. That's the that's the shortage. Until you change the lifestyle, the sins are just going to come right back again. So my mi says you need to make a a thorough which is at its root. And that's what the teaches us. That means this boy suffers the mid of what is tava? He's desirous. He likes good things. He has lust. Well, guess what? Lust leads to murder. Lust leads to immorality. Lust leads to So, the Torah says you're guilty right now because you have the chesh. You have the root of all sin. Like they say money is the root of all sin. In this case, lust is the root of sin. So we're not killing the oh even though right now we sadik but we're getting him in the future says that he's guilty now and that's us when they read this. You know what the reward is? You learn a lesson that if you're on a wrong day, even though you didn't get to the end of the day, a person is held accountable already in the present. Oh, this is a big I just said because the person was I didn't do anything. Doesn't mean you didn't do anything. You're on this road. That might explain to me something else. Again, I didn't make the calendar, the Jewish calendar. They didn't ask me to help to make the Jewish calendar. The PTA usually makes the calendar for. But if I was making the calendar, I would have probably put Yipur before Sham. It's it's very logical. first get rid of your sins and now let's pray for a good new year. You know, instead we come into with a sack full of sins because we didn't make the sh then we have our and then we deal with the sins. It's backwards. I mean, shouldn't we first clear the the slate, clear the record, balance zero. Now, maybe the day before should be yipp. Now we come in house squeaky clean no history no past everybody we got a great year problem is we're coming into and guess what I doesn't even say the word you can't say on there's no they don't eat a go is a lot you know why they don't eat a cuz the numerical value of a go is the same numerical value as the word and it's not even the right gimmatria. You have to fool around with the numbers. It's really not the same. Do the math. It doesn't work out but it's close enough. Incidentally, one of the rabbis said is also guy's not eating but he's making is also Anyway, why is it that comes before you? And I think the answer was learning tonight is simple because not about sins. It's about trajectory. It's about the God says I don't worry about sins. Change course. If you're going in the wrong direction, what's it going to help to say? If you're still on the same day, it's just going to come right back. So is God, I'm changing course. I'm already changing my lifestyle. I'm putting myself on a different road. What else is great? What about the sins? The sins will go away automatically. The cold will not come back. You shut the window. But if you're going to make first and you didn't change your just the same again, maybe even more. That's one approach to all the people hear this hypothetical case and learn a lesson to life. And you know what the reward is? doesn't mean reward. You know in America they say it's very rewarding. That doesn't mean you're getting a physical reward. Meaning it's beneficial. Learn this story. And it's a rewarding lesson that you learn that the root of sin is a sin in itself. And the road that leads to sin is sinful. And it's even worse than the sin. the gets the he's potentially capable of wreaking havoc. He gets a lesson in raising children. That's a lesson in that's a lesson in life. But tonight's your lucky night because that's not the dash I came to speak about. Although it's a beautiful dash of the beautiful dash explains the answers the question but I came to say a novel interpretation in your honor and of the it's based on the gimal says says from he says I saw him and I went to his grave. Oh no. Now we have a problem because the gabas has never happened and comes along and says what are you talking about never happened I saw the guy you tell me it's hypothetical I saw the and I was even at his grave now we have just shortcircuited this whole dash did it happen or didn't it happen I don't know you have half the rabbis saying never happened and you have some rabbit saying don't tell me it never happened I saw the kid And I went to his grave. I I don't even know what it said on his grave. I don't know what it said. Rest in pieces. I know what I'm going to say on his grave. How do you even learn this? How are the rabbis going to answer? How could they say with a straight face has ever happened if he's saying [clears throat] I saw it and I'll take you to the cemetery and I'll show you his grave. This is a now we call him. This is in the reality. Did it happen or not? Can I ask you another question? I I love to visit the graves of sikim. It's one of my my my hobbies. I don't have too many hobbies outside of learning. But when I have free time, I like to pray about the graves of the saddak. I go to the or of the rebi which is good idea. even went to Ukraine to see the great sadikim in Bendichev in Oman. When I go to Israel, I visit the old cemetery invat. I have a great connection there. Would love to visit the grave for the sake. But I must confess I never went to pray by the grave of why would anybody want to go to that grave? Where was he even buried? Riker's Island. Where would you find the grave of Ben? In in in some some cemetery outside of a federal penitentiary. I mean the is a criminal. Who's going to go to? So what is Natan doing at his grave at all? This is not. So I understand says I saw him. Okay. You saw him. No problem. You saw the man. I saw a 12-year-old. I saw him eating the meat. I saw drinking the wine. I saw the bet kill him. No problem. But what does he say? And I was at his grave. This got me thinking. And here is a big that I came to present tonight. It's a to me it's a blockbuster. Listen to what I'm telling you. In Judaism, we do not believe that if a child is off the dick at 12, no matter what he's doing, it does not automatically mean that he's going to become a rash. We do not believe that. We do not believe just because you have a [snorts] a negative or a an irreligious youth. That does not guarantee that the future is going to be bad. We don't believe that. I saw one rabbi came from Israel. He showed me pictures of people before and after. Before you see he has a like a gangster hat on and he has a a gun in his hand and he's a criminal. And then you see in the after picture he still has a hat, a black hat now, a beard, he has g his hand. Another guy is on a horse. He's a jockey before after he became Our Torah says you can change. Wasn't our great rabbi calledish? He was the head of the bandits. He was the head of the mafia. So what are you going to say to this when he's 12 YEARS OLD? AH, KILL HIM NOW. YOU KNOW I KILL HIM NOW. LET'S GET going be with this kid. He's running around with all the mafio people killing people getting into trouble. Kill him now. Guess what happened? Thisish ended up becoming the it became one of the greatest rabbis in history. So you know what the explanation is why the Ben never happened because we don't believe in this. It's not Torah philosophy. The Torah is telling you we do not say that if a child did something at 12 that you kill him because he's going to become a murderer. Who says maybe this Ben will become a great sadik one day? The Torah is teaching us by giving this hypothetical and then saying it's wrong. It never happened and it will never happen because it is forbidden for us to say that we write off Jews. It's forbidden to say that a Jew at a young age because he's on a certain path therefore he's hopeless because it's not our philosophy. But the Torah says you take the you stole him to death. I'll explain to you what that means. I once was in Israel in 1986 when I was learning and every Sunday they used to come and sell books. Safi, I only had $200 with me. My father gave me $200 to last the whole year. It's a different generation today. My son spent $200 just on the first day he was there. I had $200 to stretch it the whole year. And most of the money I spent on one of my first purchases, I looked through the books. So I see a I never saw this book. It's called I was 18 years old. I don't know this book. Okay, let me see who wrote it. I opened it up. Whoa. Abrahamu. [clears throat] What? I told the guy, come here, come. Who's Abrau? How many do you know? You know what? Married to Salah. Yeah, that one. I said, wow. He wrote a book. Yeah, this the book. I have to buy it. He's Oh, you like old books? Look at this one. He gives me another book. I look at it. I open it. Who wrote it? What? [clears throat] He says, "Yeah, we have a cookbook from also if you want. I don't understand these books." So, I bought both of those books. I bought and I bought I still have them. Now, is not for reading. It's too mystical. the wrote a commentary on it so you can learn it. You need a rabbi to teach it to you, but it's learnable. Anyway, I opened it up and I see who says we call the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, we call them letters, the 22 letters, the 26 letters of the English alphabet, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. who says no. You know what the 22 letters are? He refers to them as what is it? A stone or as he refers to them as the building blocks of creation. How did God create the world? He used the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And God said, "Let there be." Those are letters. The Hebrew letters are not only communicative, but they're constructive. You can create with the Hebrew letters. Every day in the we say about the rabbis that study. Don't call them God's children. They're builders. Well, the builders go to the Where's Where's the materials? What are they building with? By studying the letters of the Torah, they're building the world. They're giving the world existence. So he says 22 letters, 22. Now I understand this. Yeah. You see a kid who's 12 years old, he has bad habits. He's stealing money. They threw him out of school. He's drinking. He has an addiction. He's alcoholic. So they can't deal with him. They put him in the street. The can't have him. The parents don't know what to do. So you know the Torah says, you have to take the the letters of the Torah and you have to teach him. He's teachable. Sit him down in a get him a tutor and teach him Torah. Which Torah? Any Torah. Don't stone him to death. take the letters the of the and you can teach them and anybody can be resurrected and resuscitated. But the says yeah will die. You want to get rid of the old guy but the new and improved will live. And it's saying do not kill him physically because if you kill him physically you can be killing the the next you can be killing the next I wonder if you start to look at the past of all great I don't know if they were all born with the spoon in their mouth they had histories so the Torah say you know why because it's not the to say such a thing that you kill somebody today because if he's bad today, for sure he's going to be bad tomorrow. Absolutely not. Today's performance has no bearing on tomorrow's performance. And a person can change how? >> Stone him. Stone him with the letters of the Torah. You won't see the old the old he's dead. There's a a great story was a student of the Arizal one time walked into the sh and the Arizal stood up to him says why is the rabbi standing up he says you walked in bay is next to you Benayah Yada was the general of King Solomon. He says he passed away a long time ago. He's next to you. So Alisa said, "What did you do to get the He said, "Well, I was inv I was learning and it seems I was next to the grave of when I was learning." He said, "Well," he was very happy with your learning. So he escorted you to the I learned from this that the benai would always go to the grain and he writes and that's why he received a lot of his that's why he writes the names of his books he named his books after this because he received from the graves so when you go into the graves of the sikim you pray by the graves and you get a you get an energy when I was in once I went to the grave of binah I don't come to tell you stories but I was by the bay with my wife who with a big capitalist we're going through all say stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop let's go over here what's over here it's on the side of the road stop to pray all said the cabalist he says oh oh no oh Oh, terrible, terrible. Screaming, yelling, crying. I was frozen. Then after a couple of minutes, he said, "Okay, it's passed. It passed. It passed." He tells me, "Everything is good. Let's get back on the bus." And what happened? Nothing. Everything is good. Few days later, I went to Morocco. We were driving from the grave of in the Atlas Mountains. Our driver fell asleep at the wheel. Our van fell off the cliff. It went rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling all the way down. It landed on its wheels. The doors popped open. We came out unscathed. When we climbed back up the mountain to the road because they couldn't see us, we all went down in the ravine. We climbed. Then the the police came. They said, "Where's the dead people?" Where the living dead? They said 10 minutes before six people the same thing in a car, Arabs. They fell off a cliff, they all died. [laughter] When I came back to New York, that rabbi the second I walked into my house and looked the phone rang. He said, "You okay?" I said, "How did you know, Rabbi?" I saw it by the gra but I saw you're going to be okay. This the greater the stuff happens. People see things. People have people have so I will tell you wasn't arguing on the first rabbi. >> He was agreeing with him. The first RABBI SAID there's no such thing as we don't kill somebody today because we say that because he's guilty today that means he's guilty tomorrow. So was telling the rabbis you're right I saw the Ben when he was 12. I saw the addict and he was in recovery and he was in rehab and he was above and they to guess what by the end of his LIFE I WAS PRAYING BY his grave because he became a sadik that's what I was doing by his grave [clears throat] he wasn't buried on he was buried on so you're Because people can change and you have to know that recently the told me if you know the letter the the the letter the letter is made up of and on the right corner it's a backwards yud that's the way write it according to the ben and on the top right a backwards yud. So the Rebi said, "Why is that letter called it sadik?" He says, "Because you know what yud is? Yud represents the Jewish people, the yid." He said, "You know what? Sadik is that sadik deals with the backwards yuds. The yuds that are backwards. Those are the that deal with them all." That's what a sadik does. Because he knows you can take the the youth that's backwards and turn them back around. How do you do that? you stone him to death with the words of the great Torah and therefore we don't give up hope on anybody and that's what the means means like this the prophet when he wants to tell us to make says means to seek out so the saying if you see a seek him out. Don't push him away. Bring him closer and you will get reward because you'll be able to change them. The Torah is giving you this hypothetical and all the people when they hear this, it'll bring them to fear because it'll give them hope. They'll be reminded you're able to get rid of the bad in your midst in everybody's personal midst. Just because a person is bad in one year does not mean that that's permanent. And to me this is a very very great lesson as we go into the high holidays because all of us to a certain degree have been you know everybody I said once on the night of Pes we have four sons the the so we always look at it as four children I look at it as a it's the same kid when he's in elementary school and in high school he's then he goes to college he becomes an rash out and then after he graduates college, he doesn't know what to do with his life. He's in town, then he gets married. It's the same guy. So, everybody goes through phases. Everybody goes through cycles of life. Everybody has a little but just because you had a bad year last year doesn't mean you can't change. And the only way you're able to change is the is through study. There's no other option. I went once was in the yeshiva. They wanted to be in yeshiva in in in Miami. I said, "Okay, I'll go see it." They said, "We have we have special techniques." Special techniques? What exactly you doing? They said, "Come here." There's certain kids they don't like to learn. So, what do you do? We give them art. What do you mean? They have a canvas and do pastels and it gives them, you know, Yeshua. Okay. Now, what the next room, these kids, they don't like to paint. They like to do poetry. The next room they're humming, singing songs. And what are you doing? Where's the learning? No, no, no. There's not learning over here. These are alternate items over here. There's no alternate items. You got alternate items. Alternate side parking. Alterate items. Alternate items. There's no other options. They said, but they feel good. How's going to give them hallucinating drugs? They'll also feel good. This is not a method. And therefore the main item yes says it mid 100%. But if you really want change the only way to change is to learn of course I used to give a sh still give it and they get forget then they come to so one time there was a Syrian man very wealthy man and he's wasn't so religious but he came near and he was loving the and then all of a sudden after a month he stopped coming I told him what happened. He said, "No, I I cannot come anymore." Why not? He says, "I was changing and he didn't want to change." He said, "It was working." He said, "This stuff changes people. If you go listen to Torah and it doesn't matter what you're listening to, it just hit you at whatever it does. It doesn't matter what the topic is. If it's presented correctly, it can change you." So therefore, that's the greatest person can make for the new year. Like the writes, if normally you learn one dab, learn two. If you learn for 15 minutes, learn for an hour. If you learn for an hour, learn two. Add learning to your repertoire. And then already the make the change. That's why we say then we don't start saying first get stoned by the letters kill the old self. And nobody should think that just because a child or yourself had an off year or off years or is in a bad place was in a dark place that that means they have to remain in that place. To say that the Ben at 12 is going to become a murderer. We don't believe that. That's not Torah thinking though I am. And the says you're right. I saw a kid like that and by the end I was reading by his grave. It was like I was going to the grave of the and you know what it said on his grave? Here lies the former now the he says and that's what it means. That's to me a great mitzvah. Never happened, never will happen. But the lessons, the lessons of this hypothetical are everlasting. Thank you very much. [applause]