Will observing the Torah make me rich? - Rabbi Alon Anava

With no further ado, I want to invite angel from heaven. You know, when you look at when you look at the face of Rabbi Loner the bar, one thing you see is you see an angel. That man, that one nobody argue. And I'm not talking only about the beard. I'm talking about the face and the look. Behold, my life has changed for good. The mighty God sent such an angel and gave him a second life in order to make such a change in this world. He is literally a partner of the almighty God. God chose him to be a partner. Rabbi Loner the bar, we have a privilege to have you tonight. And we're not You're not a guest. This is already four or five. This is your home. Maybe next time I'm going to give you the key of the synagogue. This way you always can feel anytime you want. You're all welcome. You're always welcome. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Rabbi Loner the bar, thank you very One time I was invited to a Shabbaton, and they told me, "Do you mind if there's going to be another rabbi preparing like a you know, before the before the band goes up, there's a the ones who are warming the band up?" So, I was like, "Yeah, yeah, I don't mind." He's like, "No, we want somebody to like warm up, and then you're going to talk." Everything that I wanted to say, he said. And I'm like, "What am I going to say now?" Now I don't know what to say. So, I came to agree with everything that he said. So, thank you very much, Rabbi Asher. Thank you all for coming. Thank you for everyone who was involved in helping and organizing tonight. And with God's help, I know you all want to be rich cuz you all came here, but it's not necessarily what you're going to be hearing tonight. So, when I was asked to come tonight, I always ask what's the topic that I need to talk about. Some topics I can talk straight out to pull it out from my pocket. Some topics I need to prepare a lot. So, they told me once you to talk about how to be rich. I was like, "Okay, I can tell you how not to be rich. That's much easier." The reality is exactly like I shall said, a Jew answers with a question. When somebody asked me, "How do we rich?" I told him, "Why do you want to be rich? It's just a headache. Being rich is a headache." And some of you might know my personal story, my personal near-death experience. And in that story I say that after what happened to me, I moved from New York to Chicago. And when I lived in Chicago, I was very rich. I lived the life of a movie star. Sports cars, millions of dollars, anything that a man would dream of. And then in one night, the took it. And it made me understand that sometimes the does favors to you that you can't really realize in the beginning. But after the fact, you understand what the wants from you. Now really everybody wants to be rich. That's because they don't know what it means to be rich. If you would know what it means, you would not want to be rich. Because with money comes a lot of problems. And most people when it has to do with money, might have a lot of money, but they think that money will solve problems. But money doesn't solve problems. Money creates problems. But since the advertisement was about how to be rich, so we can't do false advertising. We have to give something, but that's not what I want to talk about. But again, since we can't we have four fraud here and the advertisement was about being rich, so we're going to talk a little bit about that, but really what I want to say is something completely different. So first of all, it's extremely important to know that nothing in the world works in hocus pocus. There's no such a thing. People come to different rabbis, give me a remedy, give me secret advice. What should I do here? What should I do there? How can I be rich? There's no such a thing. There's no hocus pocus, there's no remedies. You can hang onions on your head, all sorts of ribbons hanging from your ears. That's not what's going to make you rich. The only thing that's going to make a person rich is Birkas Hashem, is the blessing of the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Nothing else. There's no such a thing as shortcuts. Now we know, based on our sages, that on Rosh Hashanah every human being is blessed with everything that he's going to get for the entire year. How much money he's going to make, if he's going to get married or not, if he's going to have children or not, who's going to die, who's going to live, who's going to become rich, who's going to become poor. Everything happens on Rosh Hashanah. And that's the time that everybody suddenly remembers, "Ooh, if I give a lot of tzedakah today, then maybe I'll change my my luck." And today they they're deciding it. So suddenly on Rosh Hashanah everybody's very generous. When it comes to open the ark or to buy the aliyah, pitum, everybody's the checkbook is easily signed. The problem is that to raise the hand is very easy, but to put the hand down on the checkbook and write the check, that's really hard. So a lot of people they talk big, but they don't actually do anything. But the reality is that on Yom Rosh Hashanah that's when everything is decided. Now, whether people want to agree with it or not, not everybody will end up being rich. Some people, that's what it's written for them, that they're going to make money. I know people that they don't do anything and money just comes from all directions. And some other people, all day long they're trying then to to be the the next Facebook and all they have is debt. The reality is that every generation is like a a level, like a comma in a building, level of a building. And we have many many many different generations and we all get reincarnated. We constantly get reincarnated. Now, the Arizal explains that we have to come back here to this world many times in order to complete 613 mitzvot in thought, speech, and action. Which means that I have to come here as many as times as I need in order to all the mitzvot in the level of thought, in the level of speech, and in the level of action. Until I'll finish this, I'm still going to come back. And most of us come back here many many times. We know in history there was only two individuals that completed it on one shot and they never came back in a gilgul, in a reincarnation. And that's King David and the prophet Daniel. These are the two individuals that never came back in a gilgul. And everybody else, including Moshe Rabbeinu, including Avraham Avinu, including many many of the tzaddikim, they all come back here in gilgulim, in reincarnations. The Arizal says in Shaar HaGilgulim that at some point we all go through the same script. At some point, everybody's going to be rich. At some point, everybody's going to be poor. At some point, everybody's going to be murdered. At some point, everybody's going to be divorced. Whatever we go through in our life, we have to go through like a like a circle. So, one time I will be rich, you will be poor. One time I will be happy, you will be sad. Every time that I come back here, I have to experience one type of of a a life. And why is that? That when I come and stand in front of the Kadosh Baruch Hu, there's not going to be one soul that says, "Hey, if you would give me that person's life, I would be much more successful. It would be much easier for me to be a tzaddik if you would give me that life." So, the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "No, no, no, no. I gave everybody everything equal." So, at some point, I have to go like of all these stations. So, if I were was already rich 500 years ago, it's not happening this year this in this life. The point is that I don't know what I was in a previous life. Now, regardless to that, on Rosh Hashanah is when I get my bracha. And the reality is that if we would have some type of a a way to know what blessing I got on Rosh Hashanah, then we would see that all of us are blessed with an abundance of everything. Abundance of health and wealth and success and everything. The only problem is that the bracha comes in the spiritual level, and I have to bring it down to the physical level. In essence, on Rosh Hashanah, we're all blessed with millions of dollars and health and parnassah and sustenance and shalom bayit and everything. Can you imagine the Kadosh Baruch Hu, the ultimate good, the master of the universe, sitting in shamayim and saying, "Hey, you know what? Let's be mean to this guy too this year. Let's make him be poor." Kadosh Baruch Hu showers us with blessings. Comes Rosh Hashanah, there's not even a question if to give a person more money, less money, more success. There's no such a thing even. Kadosh Baruch Hu is not a mean entity that says, "You know what? That year, this last year, you who did not show up in shul, I'm going to punish you now and you're going to be poor. It doesn't work like that. Hashem doesn't punish anybody. Hashem is not a third grade teacher that if you talk they punish you and throws you out of the door. Hashem is the ultimate good. Like a loving father, he wants to give you everything that you want. But he's also a smart father and he says if I'm going to give you everything, then you might lose it or damage it. So the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, I'm going to give you the bracha. Now you have to work physically and spiritually to bring it down. So in the beginning of the year, each and every one of us probably got 10 million, 20 million, 30 million. We don't know how much we got. But now it's up to us to start manifesting it into the world. And I'm talking about money cuz today's a topic is about money, but it's the same thing with health. Same thing with shalom bayit, same thing with yirat shamayim, same thing with avodat Hashem, with everything. Hashem showers us with blessing. He says, now you have to transform it. I have to bring it down from the spiritual level into the physical level. There's a story in the Zohar Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explains that there was once a king and he decided to sustain his kids, to provide to them whatever they need. So he told them, "Every day come to me and at the end of the day, each one of you gets a check." And every day all the kids will come, sit with him for a few minutes, drink a cup of tea, a cup of coffee, whatever it is. He would write them a check and send them off. One of the kids was a little bit of a wise guy. So he tells him, "Father, why do you want me to come here every day to bother you? Why don't you give me once a year a check and let's sing and get it over with? Every day you're doing a ceremony, writing a check. It's not a lo chaval. Is it not a shame on the on the ink and on the paper? Just give me once a year a check." So he told him, "If I would give you once a year a check, I would also see you once a year. You would not come to me every day. You would come only to get the check. So the says the exact same the exact same thing. If I'm going to give you everything right now, are you going to come to me? No, you're not going to come to me. If you're all comfortable and well, you're not going to come to the synagogue. You come to the synagogue when there's a problem. And you think that I'm going to hear from you in your prayers if everything is going good? No. You're going to come once a year in Rosh Hashanah. So the says I'm going to give you a certain portion today, and you have to start bringing it down. Besides the fact that if I would get in one shot everything that wants to give me, I would probably not be able to hold it. Like a little kid, imagine how you give a little kid a 100-lb weight weight. He can't hold it. He will crumble and fall right away. Same thing with the says you can't handle the in one shot. You have to work for it and bring it down slowly slowly. So first of all, it's important to understand that I'm the one who's responsible in transforming the from the spiritual level into the physical level. And one of the ways of doing it is every day I have to pray three times a day. Ladies have to pray at least once a day, at least. They're not obligated in time. I mean, you can pray whatever you want, but you have to pray at least once a day. And if somebody tells you women are exempt from praying, they're wrong. They have to pray. Women have to pray at least once a day. And I'm talking about prayer, I'm talking about I'm not talking about reading to him. When I prayed if you look at all the what that I'm asking everything for myself, physical things. And in one of the I'm asking for my and I bring one level down. I bring one installment, one payment I bring down. The problem is that the holy one blesses me with everything. With meeting my other half and with being being a normal in my mind and not be having all these crazy thoughts and having anxieties and fears and the holy one gives me everything. The problem is that I as the receiver damage the channels where I'm receiving it from. So I can now give you a million dollar check. If you don't have a bank account, the check is worthless. Because you have nothing to do with this check. So the holy one says, "Here, I'm giving you everything you want." Unfortunately, with our acts, we damage the channels through the through these channels the blessing comes down to. And then I go and complain to the holy one, "Why am I not getting making money? Why do I have problems with sustenance?" Yes, cuz you lie and you cheat and you look in the wrong places and you and you slander and you this and you that. Why why should you get sustenance? You're chopping off all these channels through that all your sustenance come from. So first and most important important is to remember is the holy one blesses us with everything. It's me as the receiver that is damaging the option of receiving it. Because there are many acts that a person can do and he will damage the channel through this channel the sustenance can come. A person lies in his business, he thinks he's making much more money, but he is choking one of those channels. And if God forbid a person says slander or if a person mocks another person, there are many different types of acts that a person can do and what he does, he cuts off so to say the channel through the through that the blessing comes from. And then they they are responsible for their own acts. So the holy one says, "No, first of all, I'm giving you everything that you need. Now it's your turn to start bringing it down to the spiritual to from the spiritual to the physical level. So, first of all and most importantly, it's extremely to know that with my act, I control everything that happens to me. A lot of people say that punishes me. If I don't have money, it's a punishment. It's not a punishment cuz doesn't punish anybody. says this is the action that you did and the action is going to cause a reaction. put us in this world and he told us, "Listen, this world I created it. I know how this world runs. You want to know how this world runs? Here's a book. Open the book. Read the book. This is the manual." And if the manual tells you, "Don't lie. Don't steal. Don't cheat. Don't commit adultery." It gives you a whole instructions what to do. If you do it, don't come and complain. You buy now a brand new computer or phone or whatever it is. If you're not going to follow the manual, you can't come and claim your warranty. The person in the store is going to tell you, "Wait, but it says in the manual, don't put your phone in the toilet." You put it in the water. You ruined it. I can't cover the warranty. So, the says, "Here's the world. I created it. Here's the manual. Read it." People look at the Torah and they say, "No, it's just a a list of prehistoric annoying rules and has nothing to do with this world." Rather, the says, "L- Look at my manual. I told you what to do." And if you damage the product, don't come and complain that it's not working. I have no intentions of of of God forbid punishing you. There's not even such a concept. There's a concept of a reaction. So, I do a certain action and there's going to be a reaction. It's very very simple. If I will bang my head at the wall on purpose, most likely I will get a headache. Is this the the the fault of the wall? No. Is it the fault of my head? No, it's my fault. So, I did an action. Now, I have a reaction. Now, I have a headache. So, Kadusha says, "Listen, if you do a good action, then the reaction will be good. If you do a bad action, then the reaction will be bad." Kadusha doesn't punish me. On the contrary, the Kadusha tells me, "These are the rules. Just follow them. It's very very simple." So, of course, will come a lot of people and say, "Listen, I know many people. They follow all the rules, and they still don't have in their They just don't have a blessing in their money. They don't have money." So, first of all, what you see on the external part doesn't mean anything. I know very a lot of people with a very long beard and a beautiful black suit and a yamaka this big, and they look very very religious. But, the inside, I shall what's going on inside. And the only the Kadusha knows exactly what's in my heart. And I can look very very religious. And somebody will say, "Hey, look, he's a religious guy. He doesn't have money." But, I don't know what's going on inside. So, first of all, we cannot be impressed by the by the external part and judge according to that and say, "Oh, that person looks very religious, and he's poor." Regardless to that, that one has nothing to do with the other. Now, to analyze why some people are rich, some people are not rich, that that's not important. And unfortunately, if you came to hear tonight about that, that's not what I'm going to say because nobody really knows what the Kadusha wants. It's like a lottery. We don't know that. There's a place in the in Masaka Nidah that it says that when the child when the parents conceive the child, before there's even anything, there's just a drop. Comes a certain angel, takes this drop, goes up to the Kadusha, and he says, "Hashem, T pa zot ma tiye aleha?" drop is not even a human being. This drop, what's going to be?" And they ask all these questions if that person is going to be brave or rich or beautiful or whatever it is. Everything is already predestined. It's already written in the spiritual DNA. That person is going to be rich. That person is going to be handsome. This person is going to be tall or short. The only thing that is not predestined it says "All is in the hands of the heavens besides his Yirat Shamayim, his God fearing." Which means that if I'm supposed to be rich, it's already predestined. It doesn't matter how many hours I'm going to work a day and how many more businesses I'm going to think about, it's not going to work. The problem with most people is that their mind is focused in the wrong direction. There's a famous story with Levi Yitzchok from Berditchev that he once saw one of his talmidim, his disciples, students running like frantic. Told him, "Whoa, whoa, where are you running?" He's like, "I'm running for my parnassah. I'm running to to my work." And he tells him, "You fool, you're running the wrong direction. Your parnassah is over there." And sometimes we run in a certain direction and we think that's where my parnassah is going to be. And if somebody would able to tell you, tell you you're wasting your time. The parnassah is over there. It just doesn't look so nice and fancy to you. Now, really what I want to talk about is not how to become rich because it's not in our hands. You can do whatever you want in the positive way, it's not going to affect it. Yeah, you do have some control cuz the reality again that we know that we all get blessed with unbelievable abundance on Rosh Hashanah. Yes. So, hypothetically, if we would all do what we're supposed to do, we would all be extremely extremely rich. But the God who is smart he says no, I don't want to to to give it right now. That's if I'm really, really trying on the positive side, then I can affect it. As we shall see on the negative side, I can do many different sins that will stop the abundance from coming for me. And there are many, many different sins that do that. As we shall go through that also soon. Now there's a very big difference between being rich and like Rabbi Nachman said, being happy. Because I can have a lot, lot of money and it's not going to make me happy. And I can have a little bit of money and I'm I'm going to be very happy. So if a person has big plans and he says I want to be a Bill Gates, I mean it's a good dream, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen. It's one out of a billion that will actually will get to that point. Right? A normal human being should say, "I just want to have comfortable parnassah." So anyone who comes with the with a with a idea, I want to become rich and I'm not going to go to sleep till my bank account is full of money, then that person is a fool because he has no control over it. The right attitude is to say, "I I want just to be comfortable." There's nothing wrong with being comfortable. Nobody should should struggle in order to pay their rent or their mortgage and there's nothing wrong with driving a nice car. When you don't have to drive a Ferrari, but a nice car is good. And there's nothing wrong with being comfortable. God is not looking to torture us. And yes, we want to have the ability to pay my kids' tuitions, to send them to the good to the right schools, to have beautiful stuff for Shabbat. So if a person has the right intention, then the the wealth that he's getting is is applied to the right place. So first of all and most important and this is a side note as as as a as a advice, don't even try to don't even want to be rich. Cuz if you're supposed to be, it will come to you. Hashem is going to give you the next Facebook idea and you're going to become that. But the reality is that how many people win the lottery? A fraction of people. But at least they went and and and bought a ticket. What is required from you is to buy the ticket, not to win the lottery. Kadosh Baruch Hu says, you need to do what you need to do. I'll decide already how much money you're going to get. So first and most important is to understand that being rich is in only in the eye in the hands of the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Nobody else will decide it. The right way to to to to approach it is to say, I want to be doing my part. Now, Yaakov Avinu said, he asked the question and he said, "May I know where is it really? Where is my salvation? Where is my help is going to come?" And then he answers himself, he says, "It's really my Hashem." It only comes from the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Everything that I'm supposed to get is going to come only from the Kadosh Baruch Hu. There's a story that there was once uh, a businessman. He had a store of fabrics and he was doing pretty well. Then another individual came and opened the exact same type of store in front of him. And of course he got very, very upset. This is competition, it's not nice. But then he noticed that the guy who opened the store in front of him is not really into the business. He comes at 10:00 in the morning and leaves the clock at 3:00 in the afternoon. All day long in the business he's reading Tehillim, he's learning Mishnayot. He says, "Okay, that's not really a competition." And he noticed that this guy makes sure that in the morning he prays Shacharit with a minyan and after that he learns Torah. One time he comes at 10:00, one time he comes at 11:00. He doesn't really care. Comes time for Mincha, he closes the business, he doesn't care. His customers, there's no customers. One time an Arab sheikh comes to this guy's store, and he buys a piece of fabric, and he goes home. He goes home, and he shows this fabric to all of his rich friends, and they're like, "Where did you buy that?" So, he tells them, "I went to this village, you know, where the Jews are, and this one Jew there, I bought the this fabric from him." They come to the village. Of course, the store is open is closed, cuz the guy is busy praying now. So, they go to the next-door neighbor, to the other store. And they tell him, "Where does this guy when does he open?" So, he was, you know, a sharp Jew, so he says, "What do I What do you need? Maybe I can help you." So, they said, "You see this fabric? We want to buy that." So, he looks at it, and he says, "Oh, I have that. I can sell it for you." So, they take the fabric that they had, the example, and they put it next to the fabric that the merchant has, and they're touching it, and they're looking at it, and they're saying, "No. We want to buy it from him. It's not like yours. When is he opening?" And sure enough, he says, "Okay, he opens at 10:00, 11:00." Wait. Sure enough, when he opens, they go there, and they bought this massive amount of fabric. And then he understood how the parnassah comes from the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Cuz he says, "There was no difference in the fabrics. I got so much of this fabric that I went to my competitor, and I told him, 'Do you want to buy some of it?' It's exact same thing." And he understood that the parnassah has nothing to do with how early you open, how much you try to sell it. The Kadosh Baruch Hu is the one who sends the parnassah. And the other one who was busy learning and praying in a minyan and running to Mincha, he didn't care. He says, "The parnassah is going to come. Doesn't matter what I'm going to do. I'm required to do what I'm supposed to do, and the Kadosh Baruch Hu is going to give me the blessing. The Kadosh Baruch Hu yevarechcha bechol asher ta'aseh. If you do it leshem shamayim, and you do exactly what the Baruch Hu from you, he's going to give you exactly what you deserve. And what you need to get. Now, the point is is that any person that desires to be rich is a mistake. Because in the morning, if you notice in in the morning prayers, we say a certain prayer that we ask the don't bring me to a point that I'm going to be tested. In our mind, don't don't test me is shalom with health or I can't find my other half or or something's going on. We don't even understand in our in our head that even sometimes when I have a lot of money, that's a sayon. That's part of the sometimes people get tested with when they get a lot of money. What are you going to do with your money? Are you going to give it to charity or you're going to spend it on nonsense? Are you going to now get full of pride that you so you made it and you're going to be mean to your friends and family? That's also a sayon. The right approach is to say that just give me what I'm supposed to get. He knows exactly what he wants to give everybody. Now, what I need to request is is not to be rich is rather to have good luck. Asking from the to have good is legit. It's good. It's one of the in I said that I'm asking for luck. It's totally normal. But I have to understand that the comes only from the what brings me the the vessel is my my belief that the is going to give me the luck. And not my being me being tricky or me being thinking that I can do something. I have to do what I'm supposed to do. The rest is up to the rest. But since you came to hear a little bit of how to become rich, And again, there's no sequence to become rich, but there is all sorts of things or acts that a person can do that allows him actually to get good parnassa. Cuz that is totally fine. To ask something that is not that I don't deserve, that's one thing. To deserve parnassa, I deserve it. Kadosh Baruch Hu placed me in this world. There's a covenant between me and the Kadosh Baruch Hu, and not only me and the Kadosh Baruch Hu, every creature, there's a covenant between the creature and the Kadosh Baruch Hu that that Hashem says, "I'm going to take care of you." There are millions and billions of animals all around the world. They're not worried. They don't have problems with parnassa. You ever seen a a cat that is worried walking in the streets like, "Where am I getting my food now?" They don't have anxieties, animals. They trust the Kadosh Baruch Hu. There are billions of birds flying in the world. Do you ever see a bird under stress, a stressful bird that is thinking, "Oh, where am I going to find food now?" They fly, they do their their their whistles, and they eat. Kadosh Baruch Hu zano fanes la kol. Kadosh Baruch Hu gives money food to everybody. The only creature that is worried is us. We're constantly worried where will where will my money come from? But the reality is that there's a a covenant between me and Hashem, and Hashem says, "I'm going to take care of you. Don't worry. I put you in this world. I put you in this world, I'm going to take care of you." Just so we have such a lack of emunah and bitachon, trust and faith in the Kadosh Baruch Hu, so I I create this this deficiency in my sustenance. Because I say, so to say, "I'm responsible. I'm in control." So Hashem Hashem says, "Okay, you're in control, so okay, you do it." If I put all my trust in the Kadosh Baruch Hu, Hashem says, "Okay, now now let me let me take care of it." So first and most important is I have to understand that it's nothing is up to me. I have to do my part and then the Kadosh Baruch Hu does his part. So, it's totally legit and totally fine to ask from the Kadosh Baruch Hu three times a day, "Give me parnassah. You You You You promised me. Just give it to me." And by the on return, the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "Okay, so I'm asking you also to do mitzvot and to learn Torah and to do charitable acts. You do your part, I'll do my part." It's a partnership. So, how do I find the the the acts that allow me to get my parnassah? There are many. I don't like using the word remedies because I don't like the the concept of a remedy. I like doing actions. Other people come to me and tell me, "Just give me a remedy, segulah." There's no segulah. Do Do what you need to do. It doesn't even say in the Torah the word segulah. It says, "Torah u'Mitzvot." Learn Torah, do mitzvot, be a a good human being, that's the remedy. But, there are a lot of places in Chazal that they say what is the little actions that one can do that allows the parnassah to come more free, more in abundance, and in a much more uh uh uh easy way. So, since we promised you we're going to go through some of these things that you're going to have in your bank of thoughts and later on we'll go to the real part of the lecture. So, first of all, the most powerful thing for good parnassah and for for becoming rich, so to say, is a mitzvah that is called ma'aser. And that means that you give 10% from what you make to the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Some people go the extra mile and they give 20% of what they make. And the mitzvah of ma'aser is known as the only mitzvah that our sages tell us when we are allowed to test the Kadosh Baruch Hu. The Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "Bachanuni bazeh. Test me. Take now a year and make sure that you're calculating your ma'aser exactly. The Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "Test me and I'll show you that that's going to be a tool for you to make parnassah." Now, to pay ma'aser it's very easy when you make $300 a week cuz it's only $30. Try to pay ma'aser when you make $100,000. People to write $10,000 checks is not so easy. And I know many people that their ma'aser is in five and six digits. To come and give these checks, that's already not so easy. But the point is that we do know that the power of ma'aser, and it has to be calculated the right way, on the cent, exactly how much you made, exactly how much was your your expenses. When a person is 100% particular with ma'aser, is proof that it's a powerful tool to for for wealth and for parnassah. And I'll tell you a personal story that first when I became religious, become before I was religious, I was very very wealthy. I had a lot of lot of businesses. My hands was very I'm Israelis. They know how to make money. I had everything I had tons of tons of money. And then I lost everything. Kadosh Baruch Hu left me with empty pockets. But then when I became religious, you know, of course I I became I got married. I had a child. You You need parnassah. So, I was a young religious man. Comes Yom Kippur. I pray my heart out. I come first was Rosh Hashanah. I was doing everything I was supposed to do. But then Yom Kippur, the holy day, comes almost the end of the day and it's time to pray Mincha. And you know, in the like any the they sell the going up to the Torah, they they auction the opening the ark. And when it was time to pray Mincha, everybody was getting all antsy and oh, you know, now now's the time. I was like, "What's going on here?" And then the gabbai was starting to sell all the opening the ark and opening this and picking up that. Suddenly, everybody becomes very very generous. But then came the peak of of a Yom Kippur of the time when you we pray Mincha and we read out of the Torah and there's one aliya that is called the Maftir Yona that is known to be the segulah for parnassah. And the rabbi gets up and he says, "Uh whoever wants to be rich this year, this is the aliya to buy." And my wheels are like, "Ooh, rich. I want that. Okay, so I thought I'm going to control this situation." I raise my hands in confidence and I go like that. Bam, I'm high. Like $36. That's it. So, of course, everybody was laughing like you. And within seconds, it became 100, 200, 300. I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Relax. I want it. Uh uh uh." Don't need to. And I'm starting to convince everybody, "You don't really need it. You don't really need this aliya. What do you need this aliya? What do you need money? Who needs this headache?" And it's going up to 400 and 500 and 600. In my mind, I'm like, "Okay, I'll mortgage my car. I don't know, maybe I'll work a second job. What what I'm I'm going to I'm going to pay in storm. I'll I'll clean the floor of the shul. I need to get this aliya." And it goes up to 600 and 700 and I'm starting already to sweat. I'm like seeing like the 200 goldish already. I'm like, "What am I going to do? My wife is going to kill me." And then it comes and it stops. And now this is what it wasn't like the shuls that they pay for like for the Maftir Yona a quarter of a million dollars. It was a little shul with 12 people. Baruch Hashem, I wasn't in Flatbush where they have trionna cost 300,000. So it came to $770. And I was the lucky winner. Now I'm going up shaking. Where am I going to get $700? I don't even have my money for rent. But the rabbi says it's parnassa, it's a shidduch, no problem. I have bitachon in the kadosh baruch hu. Tov. I go up, I read the haftarah, I go home, my wife tells me, "No." I was sure I told her, "Don't worry. This year." She was like, "Why? What happened?" I told her, "No need to talk too much. This year all the problems are solved." Now you really have to understand, we live like in this little dinky apartment that we really didn't have money for rent. We were eating pretzels for dinner. We were really, really poor. And she tells me, "But why are you so confident?" I told her, "My dear wife, don't worry. I took care of everything." "Don't worry." And she tells me, "But why? What? Who?" I told her, "Listen. The rabbi said that whoever buys the maftirionna will make money." So she says, "Oh, great. How much did it cost?" I told her, "When it comes to a mitzvah, does it really matter? It so doesn't matter. A mitzvah there's no value for a mitzvah." She's like, "You're right. But how much does it cost?" I told her, "It doesn't matter." She's like, "I didn't understand. What did you say?" I said, "It doesn't really matter." She somehow got the number out of me. I was actually saying something. She was like, "What?" "$7.70." I told her, "Yeah. Just move the dots two two lines down." She almost chopped my head off. "What? We don't even have money to buy food and you're buying this" She's using not nice word. And I was like, "Listen, but the rabbi said I trust him." So I go back to the rabbi and I tell him, "Listen, now now Now put me in problems. Now I have problems with shalom bayit now. What am I going to do with my life now? So he tells me, "Listen, really the bracha comes from the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Why don't you take on yourself a mitzvah that is a very special mitzvah and this mitzvah is called ma'aser." And I told him, "Ma? Ma?" Ma in Hebrew is what? As he says ma'aser, I said, "Ma?" He tells me you have to give 10% of what you make. I said, "No problem. I'll I'll give. That's not a problem." But he says, "But you have to really be particular about the whole calculations." To make a very long story short, a year passes and I started a business and at the end of the year when I calculated the amounts for ma'aser and I was very very particular with my ma'aser. The amount that I made after taxes, after everything was exactly 77,000. The 770 with a dot and then two zeros, exactly. So, the power of ma'aser is extremely extremely powerful. But the thing to remember here is that you can't do everything that you want and then just give ma'aser. You know, a lot of people Somebody came and asked me not too long ago and he says, "I heard that Rabbi Nachman from Breslov said that if I go to his tzion, to his grave in Uman and I give a few dollars for tzedakah and I say Tikkun Haklali, then he's going to pull me out of gehenom." I said, "Yeah, that's after you did teshuvah for 5 years. You can't like sin all day long and then just fly to Uman and give a few dollars and and that's it, you're out." It doesn't work like that. You have to do teshuvah. You can't do any sins. You have to be perfect. Then if you go, he's going to help you. So, you can't just cheat all day long in business and lie and curse and and and and do all these horrible things and then just give ma'aser and think that you you got it squared out. That's not how it works. The it works when you do what you're supposed to do and then the ma'aser comes above it. But ma'aser is known to be the most powerful thing to make good parnassah. And even the Gemara says, "Asser te'aser bishvil shetit'asher." It's is a literally a remedy for for richness. It's doing ma'aser. We're going to take questions soon. So, that's the first thing. And the ma'aser has to be calculated on the dollar. It's not that you don't make an an average. Okay, I made a round. It has to be on the cent. And this is the one of the most powerful and the first thing that one can concentrate on. The next and one of the most important thing is keeping Shabbat. It's observing Shabbat. If a person is not observing Shabbat, he's completely damaging the main channel of sustenance of parnassah. Because Shabbat is Shabbat hi mekor habrachah. That's the source of blessing. I cannot achieve anything if I desecrate Shabbat. And that's there's no need to talk too much about it. Shabbat is Shabbat. And if a person A lot of people think that they're keeping Shabbat. When I was in my first few years of becoming religious, I thought I'm keeping Shabbat. And then when I went through the entire Shulchan Aruch and I came to the section of the laws of Shabbat, I figured out that I'm not keeping Shabbat. Because I'm failing in everything. I might not be driving, and I might not be using my phone, but I'm failing in bishul, in cooking, and I'm failing in boreir, and I'm failing in muktzeh, and I'm failing in everything. So, really, Shabbat is much more than what we think. And the suggestion here is that you take Shulchan Aruch or you make yourself a weekly a class or you find a chavruta and you learn all the laws of Shabbat. Because there are so many little things, and in Shabbat you have to be particular with every little thing. And the same thing with women. Women also have to learn the halachos of Shabbat so they know how to keep Shabbat. It's not only that the men need to work to learn it. Women need to learn halachos of Shabbat. I have a school for ladies, and we learn we have classes on Shabbat and ladies have to learn that. Shabbat is the source of barakah. Smart people, they make sure that they keep Shabbat because that is the source of barakah. So, that's the second thing that a person needs to take to consideration that that will bring him barakah. And again, you can't It's very important to take from that that you can't do whatever you want during the week and eat not kosher food and look at the wrong places and lie and cheat and and then just keep Shabbat and say, "So, I'm keeping Shabbat." It doesn't work like that. It's a package deal. But, when you keep Shabbat 100%, this is Shabbat barakah, the source of the blessing. Besides, the Zohar says the barakah all the days of your life it's referring to the days after Shabbat, but all the days of your life are blessed from Shabbat. Shabbat is the source of blessing. Now, there's another mitzvah that has nothing to do with us. I'm just going to say it because it's important to know, but that's the mitzvah of what's called shmita. Shmita means that after 6 years of working the land then the seventh year you don't work the land. Now, in the physical level, we have to be we have to have you know, Israel in order to do that. But, we don't really keep all the laws of shmita, but if you want to take the spiritual part of shmita is the fact that farmers used to stop working for 1 year. Can you imagine 1 year not working? And they had the is going to sustain them and their crops are going to be fresh and it was all the test of trust. So, the mitzvah that has to do with me here is the trust that doesn't matter what I'm going to do that the is going to provide for me. And this I can't call it a mitzvah, but I would call it the the concept of having bitachon in the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Having trust that doesn't matter how or what or who, the Kadosh Baruch Hu is a zone of parnassah at all. Now, another one, which is one of the hardest ones, the Talmud explained to us was when a person dies, lo aleinu, he goes up to shamayim and they ask him a bunch of questions. Now, you would think that the questions that they ask him is questions in halakha or questions in the Talmud. The first question that they ask the soul when it goes up to shamayim, "Ayim asakta beyosher?" Did you deal in business but honest? Were you honest? That's the first question they ask. And this is the remedy, the foundation of good parnassah is honesty. Now, first of all, this is needless to say honesty in the job, in the business. Now, if I'm a I I have my own business, it's very, very hard to be 100% honest. It's very easy when a customer comes in to see, "Oh, this guy is a He's a This guy is a sucker. I'm going to I can turn around like that. I can make double on him because he's The point is that you have to be 100% honest in business. And honest it means from beginning to end. No no monkey business. Now, a lot of people say, "Listen, but I'm a I'm a I work for somebody. I I get a paycheck." That's where your honesty is even tested double. Because on the time that you're working, you so to say belong to the boss. I once saw a situation that there was a certain boss that came to me and he told me, "Listen, I have a worker all day long he's on his phone." I told him, "This guy is doing gezel. He's taking from you. You You have to tell him. You have to warning." It's he It's your time. You're paying for that time. You're paying him the 20, 30 dollars an hour. It's your time. He's not allowed to check his phone. Here and there a message, fine. But to sit all day long and read articles and look at Facebook, that's stealing from your from your from your boss. So even a person that it's he's a worker has to be honest with his boss. You ask. Some people go to the stationary room, they start taking papers. Oh, I need papers home. Okay, I'll go to the room. His wife tells him, "I need envelopes, I need staples, I need this. Go to go and get it." You can't do that. When you work for somebody, you have to be honest with the person that hired you. He's giving you parnassah. So honesty is one of the most powerful things and of course it goes out to regardless to parnassah. If a person is dishonest, he cannot expect to have good parnassah. He will never have good parnassah. I'm not talking about being rich right now. Talking about having good parnassah is honesty. And that's a very very tough one. Because it's very hard for us to be honest. The reality is that most of us are not honest. The reality is most of us are not that we're not honest. We're actually liars. That is the reality. And I know a lot a lot a lot of people are now looking at me like, "Oh, this is He's not talking about me." So yeah, yeah, I'm talking about you. We're all liars. And if you think that you're not a liar, then that's already a problem. The reality is that we lie all day long. We lie to everybody around us. And we lie to ourselves. We lie to the Kadosh Baruch Hu. So the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "Be honest. Yosher." If you are honest, that is going to be a source of bracha for you. Now, another one and that's one that usually this side of the crowd doesn't like. It's shalom bayit. If a person doesn't have shalom bayit, most likely he will not have good parnassah. The shalom bayit is the is almost the key for damaging the parnassah. Now, why am I saying this side? Because usually men, for whatever reason, I'm not saying it personal to anybody. No nothing's personal here. If a husband treats his wife not nice, he damages his parnassa right away. No questions here. And I know a lot of people don't like that. Yeah, but she's annoying me. She's doing this. It doesn't matter. Shalom bayit is literally the foundation of good parnassa. Now shalom bayit is not only between me and my wife because a lot of people tell me, "Yeah, but I'm single." Shalom bayit is peace with anybody around me. If I have arguments and machlokes with people, that causes damages in parnassa. That will affect my sustenance. Amazingly you will see that the word machlokes Machlokes is an argument. It starts with the letter mem and it ends with the letter taf which compiles the word met, dead. It's the the killer of everything. So, you know the Gemara says Woe is I woe is I the poor man that makes his wife shed one tear. Right away the pain that he caused her creates so much malachim, so much angels that they come and they take his parnassa away. So, shalom bayit starts in the home, starts between me and my wife. And the smart ones, they make their wife a queen. And this is on the same level of Shabbat because Shabbat is from the sfira of malchut and the wife is a woman is from the sfira of malchut. A person who makes his wife holy like a queen, then he allows all the shefa, all the abundance to come to him. Because the sfira, if you want to look at it from the Kabbalistic term, the sfira of malchut is the sfira that receives everything. But really, it's not only that it receives everything, it receives everything from the sfirot that is above it, but it gives to the entire world below everything that it has. So, if you're you're on the highest world of the realm of atzilut, then the sphere of malchut of atzilut it receives all the abundance from the world of atzilut, but really malchut of atzilut is a keter to the world of briah. So, suddenly malchut now is the keter, is the crown. Eshet chayil ateret ba'alah. Eshet chayil is the crown. Ateret is a crown. And ba'alah is the husband. If the husband is smart, he knows to make his wife a queen cuz then she becomes a crown to him. Then she's able to give him the abundance. All the abundance is in the in the hands of the woman. So, a smart husband makes sure that his wife is very comfortable and everything is good. Why? That's the source of the bracha. So, when he goes and damages in regards to shalom bayit, then he damages he cuts off the substance of parnassah right away. And then it will manifest also to the kids. A father that is real mean to the kids, not only about punishing. Punishing there's nothing wrong with punishing a child. But being mean or not friendly or um more than that, and anything that has to do with shalom. Shalom is peace. The opposite of peace is machlokes, is an argument. So, one needs to constantly look for only peace. It says, "Bakesh shalom veradfehu." Ask for peace. Now now pursue it. Just go after peace. You have any type of machlokes or an argument with anyone, that is going to damage your parnassah. Why? Because in shamayim there's a din, he's fighting with the person, he's not giving up, he's not forgiving, take away his parnassah. So, shalom bayit is one of the most powerful powerful things in trying to get my my my sustenance in a very very clear way. Next one is a very very important one. There's a pasuk that says, "Shomer piv lo yishno, shomer mitzarot nafsho." The mouth. Now, our mouth is one of the most lethal weapons out there. Kadosh Baruch Hu gave us seven gates to our neshama. We have two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth. And a lot of people ask, "Why you one mouth? Why don't we have two?" Cuz the Kadosh Baruch says, "Oy vey, oy vey, if I would give them two mouths. One is enough. They have two eyes, they have two ears, two no Oy vey, oy vey, if I would give them two mouths, what would be? So, I'll give him him only one." Now, unfortunately, in our generation, you see many people that whatever goes into the mouth, woo, they're so strict. They need at least five hechsherim before they buy something. And if it's not super super super super kosher, "No, I'm not eating it." But what goes out of the mouth, no restriction. No boundaries. Cheating, lying, cursing, lashon hara, that's normal. What goes into the mouth, that's no, no, no, no, there I'm here I'm kadosh. But what goes out of the mouth, no boundaries. And our sages say, "Shomer piv uleshono, the one who guards his mouth and his tongue, shomer metzarot nafsho, he has no tzarot." Now, if you look at the word sustenance, is in Hebrew it's called parnasa. Most people, they don't know one word in Hebrew in Hebrew. Parnasa, they know what it is. But the word parnasa has, if you scramble the letters, you can read it peh resen. Peh is the mouth, resen is you close your mouth. You basically shut up. So, our mouth is the most lethal weapon. You can curse with your mouth, you can slander, you can cheat. Your mouth is extremely extremely de- extremely deadly. Person wants to have a good a good kli, a good vessel for parnasa, keep your mouth. And the mouth, unfortunately, there's many departments. Some people say, "Yeah, don't say Lashon Hara." Yeah, but you lie all day long. Or you curse all day long. Or you do many other things with your mouth. You use your own imagination. The mouth is holy. We got a mouth to praise the Kadosh Baruch Hu. That's the only thing why we got a mouth. If Kadosh Baruch Hu wanted us to eat in the in any other way, we would get an an IV. The mouth is only le hallel, le shabeach, only to praise the Kadosh Baruch Hu. And any word that comes out of my mouth that is not praising the Kadosh Baruch Hu, then I damaged this vessel. Needless to say how I talk to other people. I talked about shalom bayit. This is comes from the mouth. How many times you see spouse, husbands, wives, doesn't matter how they talk to their husband, how they talk to their kids. Not too long ago I was somewhere and I heard a mother telling the child, the child wasn't behaving not so nice, "I'm going to kill you." I was like, "What kind of a mother tells the child, 'I'm going to kill you?'" No, "I didn't really I didn't really mean it." But you said it. Who tells their child, "I'm going to kill you?" So we have to guard our mouth. Now, one of the most powerful mitzvot for parnassah is something that most people are doing anything in their power not to do. And this is called Birkat Hamazon. Benching. Most people, you're going to come and give them now something to eat. You're going to give them a roll. They're going to ask you a simple question. Is this mezonot? Is it mezonot? No, no, no. Can't eat it. Why? No, I have to bench. I don't have time. It takes you 3 minutes. No, no, no, no. Most people will do whatever they can to avoid saying Birkat Hamazon. I know people they come with all sorts of inventions. I eat three bites of the pizza, then I wait. Then I will say Birkat Hamazon. I will wait. I will eat another one and I will eat my pizza in in installments. Just say Birkat Hamazon. And the reality is that people will go in and they say, "No, there they start weighing it." How much There You know that the reality is that this is something that most people don't know. Most of the things that they tell you it's mezonot, it cannot be mezonot. You know how diluted it needs to be in order to be mezonot? So, the reality is that a lot of the things that somebody tells you it is mezonot, it's not mezonot. And the reality is that if you eat a certain quantity, even though it is mezonot, if you eat a certain quantity, you still have a Birkat Hamazon. The reality is doesn't matter right now the way the the weight of how many grams you ate it, that's besides the point. Kadosh Baruch Hu gives you the key to the safe and you're willing to give it up. Sit for 4 minutes and read Birkat Hamazon. It's one of the most powerful brachot that the Kadosh Baruch Hu gave us. It's the only bracha that is written in the Torah. All the rest is from our sages. And people literally go out of their way not to say Birkat Hamazon. There's a mitzvah that a man has to wake up in the morning, he goes to pray. After he goes to pray, he has to learn Torah. And after he learns Torah, he has to eat Pat Shacharit. He has to wash his hands. In this mitzvah, just on this mitzvah, you can now we can do a 5-hour class how to do it the right way. How to wash your hands. Our sages teach us that if you wash your hand with an abundance of water. Some people they take like these little mini cups and you know, there's enough water to maybe wash an eye. You You have to wash your hand with People are like cheap with the water. You know, this country is is is blessed with trillions of cubes of water. It's not a desert. It's not Saudi Arabia. And they wash their hands like that. The mitzvah of of washing has to be done the right way. When you wash your hands, it has to be abundance of water to go all the way to your wrist. That's the way to do it. So, we're not going to do a sure about Birkat Hamazon, but you have to learn all the laws that have to do with it. How to wash your hands. There are many in that. Many people they wash your hands and What? I didn't hear what you said. Say the like a man. Eloheinu Melech Ha'Olam. There are many many different ways how to do it. One of the things is extremely important that you raise your hands, that you open your you open your fingers. There's a lot of halachot and a lot of mystical explanations how you wash your hands, how you say Birkat Hamazon. But, if you want to take at least one thing out of tonight is say Birkat Hamazon every day. It's such a powerful that that in this it even says, "Kadosh Baruch Hu hazan u'farnes lakol." I give you everything. I give you everything in and in abundance. That's all it takes. It's just washing. Because in this I basically thank the Kadosh Baruch Hu. So, this mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon it's kind of getting like a trunk and then some branches. It has a few branches. Because first of all, when I bench, really what I do is I thank the Kadosh Baruch Hu. And the power of thanking, what's called hodaya, that's where you get your bracha. The Kadosh Baruch Hu has the to give you more when you thank him. If you don't thank him and you just take it, if you even worsen that you think that you did it, that's what the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "Okay, I don't want to give him." When a person says, "I didn't do anything. It's the Kadosh Baruch Hu that did it. I didn't do nothing." And then you still of above that you also thank the Kadosh Baruch Hu. You say, "Thank you. Wow, I didn't even expect this deal to close. Thank you. I can't believe it it closed." The power of thanking is one of the most powerful tools to create a vessel to receive the bracha. Try it even in the physical world. You come to a person that will give you something and you're not going to thank him, he's not going to want to give it to you anymore. You thank him. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you, boss. Try once to thank your boss, you'll see you get a bonus. Guaranteed. Most people, when they get the check, they don't come to the boss and tell him thank you. Most people say, "He has to thank me. I'm making money for him." You have to thank him. He gave you a job. He can kick you in your tuchus and get another person. Very few people walk into the boss at the end of the week and say, "Thank you. Thank you for hiring me." So, so much more so to the master of the universe. The master of the universe feeds me all day long and I don't even take the time to thank him. The pillars of our our nation compiled Birkot Hamazon for us to say. The first one, Birkot Hamazon is divided in four sections. The first one was compiled by Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu himself compiled the bracha the first bracha of Birkot Hamazon when the manna came down. Later on, when Yehoshua took the Jews into Eretz Yisrael, he compiled the second part of the bracha. After that, the third part came David Hamelech. He compiled the third part of Birkot Hamazon. And the last one was Anshei Knesset Haggedolah. This is one of the most powerful things. Now, in Birkot Hamazon, so first of all, you have the washing of the bread. Second of all, you have the actual blessing. You have the concept of the thanking. But, bread is very, very holy. And most people do not realize that is when when you chas v'shalom desecrate bread, it really damages the parnassah. If you have dry bread in your home, you don't throw it to the garbage. Can't throw it to the garbage. If you're already throwing it to the garbage, you have to wrap it nice, you have to to to hide it, then you put it in the garbage. You want to make sure that you better even to give it to the birds. But, I can tell you one thing that is known to be a very powerful remedy for richness is on Arab Shabbats, the highlight of the meal is the bread. You have the wine and you have the bread. The food itself is also good, but the bread is the highlight. And if the bread, first of all, needless to say, I'm not even it's not even a question here. The bread has to have a has to be done a far shot color. It's not the bread that you buy in the in the supermarket. It's to be a dough that the wife made and took color out of it. Did a far shot color? It's so holy the bread that we're not allowed to take from the piece of the bread and feed it to an animal. The bread that you ate on Shabbat, you can't give it to animals. Now, if you notice, most of the breads on Shabbat, when you cut them, they create a lot of crumbs. The crumb to gather all the crumbs and to eat it, this is a secret to a very powerful remedy to make to be rich. Why? Because the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "This is my holy bread." And most people, they throw everything to all the sides. But the person who cares about every little thing that it comes from Kadosha, the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "That I like. I like that you don't desecrate my holy bread." Because really, in the beginning, man came from the heavens. And the man came on Friday. I mean, it came every day, but on Friday, it came two portions. That's why we have two breads on Shabbat. One for Friday, one for Shabbat. It's called the Hamishneh. The reason why we eat it because we're commemorating the fact that the man came in two portions on Friday. And that's why we cover the challah, because a lot of people say, "Okay, not to embarrass the wine." But the Zohar says that the man came down with a cover. So, the same way that the man came down with a cover and they removed it, so we cover our bread. So, the everything that has to do around the bread on Shabbat has to be done 100% the right way. And now, when you cut the bread and all the crumbs go over the place, don't brush it off. Brush it together and eat it. And eat those crumbs. And the amazing thing is that I have a very close friend and it's one of our students and her brother is very, very rich. He's not He's not religious, but he's extremely, extremely rich. And I taught that in one of the classes about the crumbs and she says, "You know, when we grow up, my brother always used to eat the crumbs." You see? It works. Now, tomorrow we're going to see everybody with crumbs. What are you doing? A crumb! The reality is that the Kadosh Baruch Hu, the significance here, first of all, the bread is holy. But the significance is that you care about something small. Now, this is really the lesson that I want to give out. And not the crumbs, something else. It's very good to be rich. It's very nice to be rich. It's comfortable. The reality is that we don't really need to be rich. Let Let somebody else be rich. We need to be comfortable. That's totally fine. Exactly like Rabbi Asher said, when you're comfortable, you pray quietly. You come to the class. There's no worries. I mean, we weren't created to worry. It's very good to be comfortable. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not the hefakh, the opposite of the Torah. It doesn't say anywhere in the Torah that I'm supposed to suffer. L'afekh, the Kadosh Baruch Hu wants to have give in abundance. And you see that in many places you go to a tzaddik or you go to a big rabbi, they bless you should have parnassah b'shefa. Not because he wants the donations, because he wants you to have the parnassah. So, there's nothing wrong with being comfortable. But really when I run after something, when I focus on something, in most cases I'm not going to get it. Because in most cases, 99% of the cases what I run after is not doesn't belong to me. And that's because I make my reality, my truth, what I like. Instead of me making the truth what I like. You understand what I'm saying? Most people they lie they make the truth what they like. I like a lot of money, so that's my truth right now. I like this, I like eating a lot, that becomes my truth. I will find all the ways to manipulate it that's going to be the truth. But the reality is that I need to take the truth and like the truth. And in most cases when I run after something, I I will never get it. Why? Because it doesn't even belong to me. What belongs to me comes to me. I just have to make myself the vessel to receive it. Now all the remedies are very nice, all the hocus pocus, and all the the quotes from Khazars, and that's all very very nice. But the teachings of Kabbalah and teachings of the Zohar says, "Listen. Our life is like a magnet. You know, if you have the wrong side of the magnet, whatever you going to you going to push the magnet towards it, it will repel the other side. But if it's the right side of the magnet, you don't have to do anything. You just stand like this and everything goes to your magnet. The reality is when when my energy is projecting out a certain energy that I'm after getting, then I push everything away. That is the reality. If you look at it even in the in the in the world, when you really really want something and you you bugging somebody about it, like a child it comes to the parent, "I want this. I want this." I can't you leave me alone. That's what I tell my kids. Ask once. Every time you ask one more, it reduces the chances for you to get it. Ask my kids, that's what I tell them. That's what I teach them. Say it once, I got the point. When I will, when I want, when I can, I'll give it to you. You ask a second time, you just reduced your ratio, your chances of getting it in 50%. And the more you pull on my leg, the more chances you're not going to have it. The exact thing in my life, whatever I run after, I push away. Because my energy is projecting outwards. If my energy is projecting the completely opposite, I will everything that I want will come to me. I don't have to do anything. Everything in this world has a relationship, so to say, that there's a giver and there's a receiver. I I If I If you want to get something, I somebody has to give it to you and the other way around. If I want you to get something, I give it to you. There's always the relationship of a giver and a receiver. In the Kabbalistic terminology, this is called or and kli, light and a vessel. If there's going to be an abundance of light, has to be a vessel to take it. If there's not going to be a vessel to take it, the light is just going to get lost. I can give you now, pour you wine from the most expensive wine in the world. If you're not handing out a cup, then the wine is going to go straight on the floor. If I'm smart, I'm going to stop the pouring. Now, what happens if you give me out a broken glass? You can't drink from the broken glass, it can cut you. Hashem A dirty glass? So, there's always the relations of In order for me to receive, first of all, has to be a giver. And I'm always in the receiving end. I'm not on the giving end. That's The giver is only the Kadosh Baruch Hu. I'm on the receiving end. But in order for me to receive, I have to have my emotion as a receiver, and not as a giver. Now, when I run after something, I totally shift my energy the wrong way, cuz I'm now running after something. I'm now pretending to be the giver. So, I have to constantly reverse the situation that I am the receiver. How can God give me something if I'm not willing to get it? If I think that I have the power to do something, I will never get it. But if I humble myself, then God says, "Now I want to give it to you." Now, I may actually say the very, very interesting verse before that is mentioned in the Mishna. As a sheer a summer of a call. Who's a rich person? The one that is happy with what he has. Now, this is a very smart saying. If you're happy with what you have, you are considered rich and wealthy. Which is a very thing to go by. Be just happy with what you have. But in here has a a hint of really how I really get an abundance of everything. Take this exact same verse and read it a little bit different. Or I would just say just add one word. As a sheer, who's a rich person? A summer of a call shall have a row. Of his friend. That's where the secret lies. If I'm happy with what I have, that's one thing. That's very good. But if I'm happy with the portion of my friend, that's when I become rich. Because I'm not in the motion of taking. I'm now in the motion of giving. When I'm in the motion of giving, cuz I want to be happy with your portion and your portion and your portion. Portion means your happiness, you being comfortable, you being happy. When I'm running after giving, then the motion reverses itself and now I'm the receiver. Which means God just wants to throw on me blessings. He wants me to get married. He wants me to have happiness and kids and wealth and everything. But he says, "But if you're constantly in the motion of I need to take that I'm busy of so to say taking, I can't receive." There's a concept in halakha. There's a big question in halakha when you learn the laws of melicha, when you learn to become a rabbi, there's a part in Shulchan Aruch that is called melicha, salting. When you salt the meat, how do you make meat kosher? After you slaughter it the right way, then you have to salt the meat in order to pull the blood out. This is called melicha. Now, how do you do it? You put the piece of meat and you put a lot of salt on it. The salt has some type of a character of a a power that it pulls this the blood out. That's how you kosher the meat. Now, there's a question in halakha. What happens when you have a lot of pieces of meat? Now, imagine in this country or in the world, how many animals they need to make enough kosher food for the million or two million Jews that eat kosher? Can you imagine how many cows? How many chickens? You probably need about a million chickens a week, minimum. Right? Every family has on an average Shabbat or during the week a couple chickens. Just imagine how many chickens they need in the world to make kosher. So, how do you make it kosher? What do you You're going to spread the million chickens around? You need stadiums for that. I'm not talking about cows right now. So, how do they do it? Go to a kosher factory and you'll see that they stack the meat on top of each other. You got You have piles of meat. And what do they do? They put a piece of meat, salt, piece of meat, salt, piece of meat, salt. Comes the question in halakha. What happens if one of those pieces is treif, is not kosher? Now, it's going to ruin all the other pieces. So the explanation, the answer according to is the road really float. Whatever is busy giving cannot receive. So while the meat all the meat is busy exploring the blood out, it cannot take something in. So even if one of the pieces of the meat is not kosher, it will not affect any of the pieces. Meaning when I'm busy exploring, giving out, I cannot observe everything. So what I want to take from that is that if I want to get any type of a car, it's not by me trying to take. It's only when I give. The more I give, the more I make room to get. And the more I give of me, then I'm becoming a more bigger vessel to receive Hashem's blessing. And that is not only for money. It's for any I mean that's something we really want. People don't ask for that. People go to a they ask for money. They don't say I want to have God fearing. Ask for that. Have to have a ask to have I want to love the the who asked for that. You go to the tell me I need a lot. But the reality is that I shall want to give me an abundance of everything. And in this lies the secret. Would you want to be rich? Not only be happy with what you have has been a lot of money. Is happy in the portion of his friend. Go and worry about everybody around you. You'll see that that is the only way to create the vessel to start receiving. I see you busy with helping that person and helping that person and giving to this person and giving out of your time to that person, I'll worry about your problems. You worry about my problems, I'll worry about your problems. We have Baruch Hashem a school in Eretz Yisrael for ladies, a seminary for all the ladies that become ba'alei teshuvah. Beautiful, beautiful school. But with that comes a lot of baggage, because we have a lot of women that are unfortunately are abused, and coming from from broken homes, and we have a lot lot of problems that we're dealing with. Not too long ago, Hashem Yerachem, one of the students called us at 3:00 in the morning, "My husband is beating me up." So she came to our home. The whole night she was in our home, she had to hide her, of course. Police come, you know, the whole scenario. She has to sleep in our home, and it's not so convenient, and everything that comes with it. And the next day somebody asked me, "Doesn't it annoy you that you you you have to deal with these things in the middle of the night?" And I told him, "I'd rather deal with other people's problems than to deal with my own problems." So I'd rather deal with other people's problems. And you know what? When I deal with other people's problems, the Kadosh Baruch Hu says, "Oh, you're worried about other people's problems? I'm going to remove remove from you all your problems. I'll take care of your problems. You take care of my business." So really when I want some type of an answer, what is the secret of becoming rich, it's not about having seven figure figures in your bank account. If Hashem wants you to have seven figures, he's going to make you have seven figures. Don't worry. Don't expect it, don't desire it, don't want it. If you if you're supposed to get it, it will come to you. The more you run after it, the more you push it away. And that's going to going to be in everything, also in a shidduch, also in shalom bayit, also in anything, also in learning. You know many people I know that they want to learn, their intention is wrong, because they want to come to the chevre and say, "Oh, I learned a whole mesechta. I know this, I know that." And then you're pushing your your your desire. You want to learn, then you humble yourself. It's all about humbling yourself. You know that the most humble man in the world in history was Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu was a billionaire. In in our terminology, Moshe Rabbeinu was a billionaire. Okay, so the Midrash says that when he fixed the Luchot HaBrit, the the dust that came from the Luchot HaBrit, you know, from that he sold it and became very rich because he got it. Moshe Rabbeinu was a billionaire. He didn't need the money. He didn't care about the money. He took the money and he built Yeshivot and I mean, they didn't have Yeshivot then, but whatever. He invested the money in what Hashem wants. The point is that if I want to be rich, really being rich is when I do what the will of the Kadosh Baruch Hu. Because the real richness is in the world above of it's in the next world, not here. That's why you see that many of our sages say, "I don't want nothing from this world. Let me be poor. I don't want to take everything anything from this world. I don't want one ounce of bracha taken from me in the world above. So here I might be rich for 70 years, but I want the real wealth in Olam Haba, not in this world. And if Hashem decides to give me a lot of money for whatever reason, great. It's going to go to this Yeshiva and this school and this orphanage and this soup kitchen. Because the money that I get is not even mine. It's to give out. And the more I give out, the more I get. So really the secret of being rich, financially, emotionally, spiritually, is is how much I'm willing to give out. The more I give out, the more I will receive. And that's really the secret. Yeah, there's many many things that will affect my parnassah. And there will be again, I don't like using the word remedy, but there is a cleef of parnassah. There are many many things. Some of them are just very obvious. Chazal say it's giving charity. That is one of the most powerful things. Give charity. Because it's very hard to give charity. I'm not talking about giving a quarter to the person on the corner. Give charity, and charity is not only giving checks. Charity is giving my time to another person. And my expertise, and my patience, and my smile, and my nice word. Needless to say, there are very mystical things. The Zohar says that the cliff of parnassa is for a woman to cover her hair. But 100%, not to put like something here on the back. Cover the hair the right way. Why? Because the woman holds the bracha. All the bracha, all the chef, all the abundance comes to the woman because she is the malchut. She gets the abundance. I don't know if you noticed that in Orthodox weddings, the woman covers her face, but not like with a regular net that you can see each other. With a sealed a a a veil. This comes that when Moshe Rabbeinu saw the Shechinah, his face shined. When he came down from the mountain, it says in the Torah, "The or panav Koran, his face." Nobody could look at him. They literally got blinded just by looking at him. Moshe Rabbeinu for 40 years had a mask. Nobody saw his face. Nobody was able to see his face because it was shining from holiness. The only time that he would be able to remove it is when he went into the tent. When he went into the tent, well, like a convertible, he took off his his veil. Nobody saw his face for 40 years. Why? Cuz the Shechinah was on his face. A bride, a woman on her wedding, that's the moment that she gets this Shechinah, this godly revelation on her face. That's why you see in many weddings they they cover the face 100% that there's only going to be a little bit going out. And you see that in all the Orthodox weddings, right away the woman covers her hair. Yes, some do it right after the chuppah, some do it the first night, some do it in the morning. But right away you cover your hair. Why? Because all this kedusha that comes on the night of the wedding, it get gra- it gets grabbed on the hair. Hair is is is very in one way can be extremely extremely holy and on the other way can be the complete opposite of holiness. It's it's it accepting the impurity. The clipper gets attached on the on the hair. That's why you see in in many groups they shave the men they shave the head. So there's not going to be any hairs. Clipper is not going to have any other way. The other way around with the woman then she covers her hair. She can't shave her head. She has to look beautiful for her husband. But she needs to cover it to hold all the holy stuff. On the other way around hairs are very very holy. A man that grows a beard, this is the most powerful. All the they ask you ask for grow your beard. Don't touch your beard. Don't shave it. Don't trim it. Don't grow your beard. The bigger you the more you let the beard grow, the more you bring on yourself this this abundance. So yes, we can stand here now for really 3 hours and I'm going to quote you many different places. Do this. Do that. But I really believe that first be a mensch. Before you go into the next level be honest like I told you. Honesty. Be courteous. Be accepting. Be forgiving. Be humble. Learn to give not to just take. When you apply all that, that's when you really going to be rich. If decides that your bank account is going to be full, he's going to give it to you. But you have to do these basic things. But really if you want to go out of this door with something cuz you came to here how to become rich. So you want to go out of this door by saying okay, how do I become rich when I care about other people? When I care about other people then oh, I know what you want. I know you have your eyes on that car. Okay. Don't worry. And if I don't want you to get this car, you're not going to get it. So don't dream too much. But the point is that says just worry about another person. And that can be categorized as just humble yourself. Right now, that person needs my time. This person needs my advice. This person needs my sofa to sleep on cuz they he got kicked out of the house. Or whatever it is. And this is where it all lies. A rich person has some mayor because of the Haviro. And if you want to take something out of this door, it's not these little remedies. It's how am I applying now my emotion to help another person? And the more people that I help, the more I will receive from the Kadosh Baruch from his abundance. And it doesn't mean that all day long you can help another person and here lie, cheat, and and curse, and do all the rest of the things. It has to have a balance. I mean, you have to follow the Torah. A person doesn't follow the Torah, he has a bucket full of water and he pokes holes all over from all holes. Just now today I had something very happy a very funny happened. Like a real sometimes life teaches you these amazing lessons. I told you we have this beautiful school in Tzfat in Eretz Yisrael and every Shabbat we have these huge huge Shabbat meals. So we have these huge hot water uh how do you call it? Urns? Earns? So every Friday, you know, I learned from our sages that the sages themselves used used to prepare for Shabbat. So I also prepare for Shabbat. I help and fix the tables and last Shabbat, I'm putting I'm washing all these urns or however you say it. And I'm filling them up. And it's big ones, so it takes 5 minutes to fill them up. So I go and do other things. And one of them I come back and I'm looking and it doesn't get filled up. And I'm like, what's going on here? I go and do a few more things. I come back after 2 minutes. I'm looking and I'm like, this is like filling up already for 20 minutes. And I'm going backwards and forwards and I don't understand why this one is not getting filled up. I'm saying, maybe maybe the water it's going very slow. After 20 minutes, half an hour, I look around and I see that, you know, the tap that you open for the water to come out is pressed all the way down. So, water is coming in, but it's also going out from the other side. And the problem is that, yeah, I can have a beautiful beautiful clea beautiful vessel, but if I poked one hole from the bottom, the hole will go out. So, I'm going to sustain. So, before I'm thinking about all the hocus pocus, let me first think of my basin, which collects everything. That means that in me I have to be complete and honest and truth. That's what the likes. He likes the honesty. He likes the emit. Says emit the Torah to emit. Emit is truth and his Torah is truth. Try to apply being honest for 1 week. And you'll see a difference, a huge difference in your life. And I know a lot of people saying, "What are you talking about? I'm very honest." We're not honest. Cuz the main one that we lie to is ourselves. Even if you don't lie to other people, the the reality is we do lie to everybody else around us, but we also lie to ourself. Try 1 week not to lie at all. Go on a lying diet. You'll see how it will affect completely the blessing in your life. Why? Because you're not going to poke all these holes in the the bottom of your basin. So, since you want to go out with something from this room tonight, is that you have a lot of things, not only one things. Start applying it to your life. I can guarantee to you you're going to be much more wealthier in the spiritual level, in the physical level, in the emotional level. It's not about what I take, it's what about what I give. And if it's in my book that I'm going to get a lot, then it's not how much hard I'm going to work, rather how much space I'm going to have to get more. And that's what the says. Just create space. I already fill it fill it up exactly how I want. Sometimes you see you see in many videos of tzaddikim that they give what's called a kos shel bracha, a cup of bracha. The Lubavitcher Rebbe used to do it, the Baba Sali, there many tzaddikim they have this concept of what's called kos shel bracha. They do kiddush on it or they do havdalah and they pour pour you. And you see in some of these cases that somebody comes, everybody gets a little portion. Every now and then you see somebody comes and they get like a whole cup full then. Hashem says va'arikoti lachem bracha ad bli dai, I'm going to give you blessings ad bli dai. Ad bli dai means you can't even handle the blessing I can give you. But you have to create yourself a vessel. If the vessel is clean from honesty and purity and and and all these good things, then you become a vessel and if Hashem wants to give you a lot of digits in your bank account, he's going to give you a lot of digits. And the most important thing to remember is it's not about how much money I have, it's what do I do in this world. If I do what Hashem wants me to do in this world, the real richness, the the the wealth is going to be in the world above. And that's going to be a spiritual wealth and not a physical wealth. I want to care about my olam haba, not olam hazeh. If my olam hazeh is cushioned, that's very very nice, but I want my olam haba to be cushioned. I'm doing here ayom lasotam umachar lekabel s'charam, today I'm doing it, but for tomorrow, in olam haba, it's to get the reward. That's a real smart person that says I don't need a a Mercedes in this world. I just need a car with four wheels that takes me from here to there, that's it. There's nothing wrong with a Mercedes, if you drive a Mercedes, it's totally fine. I'm not saying I'm not saying lashon hara about Mercedes. The point is that really what I want to pursue is what makes the Kadosh Baruch Hu happy. So b'ezrat Hashem, we will be able to make the Kadosh Baruch Hu happy with our actions and our deeds and our thoughts. And as a result from that, we're going to merit that the Kadush who is going to make us happy with parnassah, with shalom bayit, with good kids, with with a beautiful husband or wife, and that our life should be comfortable and good. Be'ezrat Hashem, Hashem should bless you all with a beautiful chodesh. This is the chodesh of laughter, the month of Adar, that after that we go into the month of yeshua, of of of geula, of redemption. Be'ezrat Hashem, we should merit to see all of you very soon in Eretz Yisrael with Mashiach. Be'ezrat Hashem, I do want to bless you to all have an abundance of wealth, and an abundance of of everything that you wish for yourself, honestly, that Hashem should will bless you with a great success and great health and wealth and happiness, both in the spiritual and in the physical world. Thank you so much.