Tikkun Shovavim & Shovavot Begins With Heart| TORAH FOUNDATION (15)

We're back here on our Sunday night called the series of Torah foundation based on the Tonight's going to be for the David and all of all the righteous nohes that continue to support our organization and a big yes to all of you that are doing tikunim. Uh anyone that wants to do a tikun now or wants to do it after this year, you can go to tikkunablit.live. Over there there's an explanation of what each tikun is for. Those of you that want to do the ultimate tikun uh with us could certainly do it. So, there's no song tonight because tonight is going to be a little bit more of a serious you. I don't recommend this for young kids. Uh young kids meaning before bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah. Uh because we're going to talk about some adult topics that uh without any graphic details, but uh we're certainly going to address the issue of tikun. Now, anyone that has watched our over the years or has learned to for many years has certainly heard that there is a tunim. Today it should be called and this is the auspicious time where people take advantage of it to do chuva to do chuva for the sins of immorality as the Torah forbids it. uh and uh there's a lot of details to it, but the reality is that a person can do a million tikunim and can watch a million shulim but still continue to sin. How do we make it last? after I mentioned in passing the uh some of the immorality that is unfortunately hurting many communities our own included where people are committing all types of horrific things that uh has somehow um I don't know people put a blind eye to it or something they cover their eyes their ears and everything else and pretend like it's not happening where people are committing such immorality it's literally reminding us of the days of Sodom and Gomorrah whether it's uh people switching their wives uh knowingly and husbands or it's just simply normalizing uh all types of uh filthy things uh that uh the Torah forbids but yet some consider themselves religious despite the sins and of course everyone knows it's wrong everyone knows that this is not the will of Hashem but yet some people have such lust and desires that uh they uh simply forget Hashem even if it's for a moment. The next explanation for why he wrote this sephil is because he realized that the obvious Torah laws are not necessarily always the common behavior. They haven't been in the past generations and needless to say in the days after including our own. This is why I will take the opportunity to give some new to the many of you that have asked me to give you some for this old problem that unfortunately you're not the only ones that are facing. Countless people are facing. I always recommend for people that uh want to overcome the issues of immorality to educate themselves by going to our website and go to the free PDFs and download this P interactive PDF. It's a guide to tikunit. Everywhere that you press, it'll open up a different lecture that we've done over the years about the topic. There's films, there's short uh short clips, there's full lectures, all types of things. But we've spent an enormous amount of time and resources doing everything we possibly can to normalize the education about kadusha. It used to be normal. In fact, before this year, I uh didn't know exactly how to bring up this uh this topic because on one end many of you were asking me to give you about it. On another end, we're studying but then we saw that everything connects. But usually these shim about morality and immorality take weeks if not months to prepare. So I simply prayed toad to simply help me and simply give me everything that I need to know for this sh and I just simply grabbed just a bunch of different books and each one of them will have something about it and you'll see that the books are not just the same book. It's it's the it's all types of books. In fact, out of all of these books, I don't think you will find a single one of them that does not have the issues of morality addressed in it in some way or another. Why is that? Simple. Just like Rashi said in Koshim and so did the Ramban that followed him couple hundred years later, there is no such thing as a place of holiness without the teachings of Kadusha. You will never find a sephir a Torah that will not address the issues of kadusha, the issues of morality. Why? Because immorality is antithetical to the Torah. And this is one of the main reasons why we spent the last 10 years or so constantly teaching about it from time to time making very big lectures about it. But also further the teaching, the advertising, the marketing of this teaching, whether it's by the magnets that I keep reminding everybody about that you can get from the Kiru store and put it on your car like many smart people have done simply getting it for free. You can get one of these cool magnets, put it on your car, and turn your car into a mitzvah machine. If not, on a permanent case, at least for the next several weeks, to help more people learn learn about tikunit. In the last uh couple of weeks, I think there's been over 500,000 views to our tikunit in English uh film. So people are watching people are getting people are actually doing chuva but people are struggling. We've printed these we've printed many things over the years we even have these bookmarks we used to print in the past with different quotes of that address the topic. This one over here is the Sephus. Sephanuz says that the Msiah will arrive in a generation that does tikun. Many people like to talk about Msiah. But very few people realize that in order for Mashiach to come in a positive way, we have to do. And another bookmark we made over the years is another quote from the tikun. The tikun for is to help others do chuva because just like a person wasted the sparks of kadusha, he will now collect them and connect them. In so many words, if you want to help other people do chuva, realize that you're not only helping them, you're helping yourself. Because each time you help another person, watch the film and start doing chuva. Each time they overcome the obstacle, each time she overcomes the obstacle, it goes to your credit as well. This is the reason why we call the tikunit uh uh donation or tikun that we do with us the ultimate tikun because the few places out there that deal with this subject that do tikunim usually the mikubim usually they just give the money out for the poor and that's good. What's better is to actually use the money like we have to further the teaching to further the chuva to further the kiru to help other people do chuva. So this is why we continue to invest more and more in but first we have to start with what is telling us and he says as follows. Perhaps the duties of the heart are so obvious and well known to all that at least I thought that people are so faithful in fulfilling them that it was unnecessary to write a book about them. In so many words, the humble and thought perhaps there's no reason to write this book because people are so faithful to the mitzvot that they already know this already. They know that it's a mitzvah to investigate, inspect, and constantly look into your heart in order to ensure that you're serving Hashem properly. It's commanded by the Torah, the written Torah, the oral Torah, logic. So he said, "Perhaps no one's written a book like this because everyone's already doing it." But when I made an inquiry into the conduct of the previous generations as documented in written records here he's talking about not just written records old newspapers we're talking about the Tanak itself the time of David the time of the time of the time of Mosherenu I found that the people were far removed from them only the most fervent and outstanding personalities among The people lived up to these duties as we know from accounts of their conduct. The rest of the people however sorely needed guidance and instruction in this area. How much more so in our generation and I should add how much even more more so in our generation. Most of the people do not take seriously the duties of the limbs certainly not the duties of the heart. See here the gave us an opening where in essence he's telling us that duties of the heart is an obligation that is known to everyone as Torah obligation, logical obligation. And before we even consider that, even more people know about the physical obligation, the duties of the limbs. Yet people do not take those seriously. And he's not only referring to the duties of the limbs of putting on to saying being modest. He's talking about how to act with our bodies. Those among the people who are drawn to Torah study aim only to be considered scholars by the common people and to be thought of as great men. They veer off the path of the Torah to study that which brings no excellence of character, does not correct personal faults, and ignorance of which brings no punishment, while neglecting the study of the fundamentals of the religion and the foundations of the Torah, which should not be ignored or forsaken. Without knowledge of these fundamental and fundamentals and foundations and without practicing them, one simply cannot fulfill the commandments. In so many words, the is telling us that even those that are careful to learn Torah, let's say they learned the dafy, they learned every day, they learn yet they do not learn mal, they do not learn in order to elevate their character. They learn to gain knowledge. So people call them a scholar. People call him a people call them knowledgeable. But you see that the guy is learning for 5, 10, 15, 20 years, but his character hasn't changed. How do you know? His wife still complains about the same things. His kids still look miserable. His life still does not have the blessing. Something's missing. And I cannot tell you all of the stories that I hear from people about the horrible things that are happening in the areas of Kadusha, but I'll share with you some. Some people are asking for guidance. How do they convince themselves or how can I convince them not to cheat on their husbands with one of the customers or with one of the co-workers? Other people, how do I convince them? How does God convince them in this case not to cheat on their wife anymore? And if that wasn't bad enough, how do I heal my child that heard other people that they're living with simply not careful when they were supposed to do the intimate act quietly? In so many words, they acted like wild beasts that even the neighbors heard, including the kids that were in the house. These horrible stories, unfortunately, have become a weekly tragedy that I have to deal with. Every week, every day, someone else tells me about things they need to fix. Now, again, I welcome all messages and I try to help everybody. My point here is that while everybody would like to put their head in the sand and pretend like everything is okay, it's not. And one of the main reasons is exactly what the mentioned a thousand years ago is still the problem. People refuse to learn Musar, refuse to learn the type of Torah that will force them to change change their behavior. It's not for not that the sages instituted this every single year. No matter who you are, whether you're like Kvki and or you're a simple nothing, it doesn't make a difference. Everyone has to take advantage of this opportunity to get for the issues of kadusha. Now when it comes to this issue tells us that the thoughts of sin are worse than the sin. And of course the sages elaborate why are the thoughts of sin worse than the sin. One of the reasons the Rambam mentions is that when a person sins with their body, there are other people that are aware of it. When a person is sins in their mind, only is aware of it. Meaning that you are literally sinning with concern about everybody else's perception of you, but no concern whatsoever about what the thinks of you. Furthermore, the says that the thoughts of sin and this pertains to men and women. The thoughts of sin create a kipa souls. For those of you that are little cababalists, like to talk about kipo, like to talk about all the types of mystical teachings, this is some real cabala. The thoughts of sin create kipa souls. This soul then searches for a body to enter. And therefore when one thinks of forbidden matters, these kipa souls visit the person at night and cause him to have nocturnal emissions which they can then use as bodies for their souls. is also mentioned in the of the mid in page 199 or 191. See here we see that thoughts are a lot more than what people think. Of course actions it's obvious actions are not uh are not good but here we're talking about it all starts with what's in your mind and what starts in your mind usually starts with your heart. Now the sages have told us that immorality is not something that is only relevant to men. In fact in and also the writes that issues of immorality even with self applies equally to women as well as men and those that do so increase the evil spirits in kipot. It's also forbidden according to based on the prohibition against entertaining forbidden thoughts. This is written by the Moshe Moshe Feinstein in Evanel section one number 69. Now, of course, there are endless things that we've gathered over the years, we've learned over the years, but I'm trying to bring you things that we haven't talked about before. One of the things that we can never stop repeating is that there's always going to be people, they're going to tell you, "Come on, he's constantly talking about gay. He's constantly talking about punishment. He's constantly talking about, you know, bad things. Let's talk about nice things. Stop listening to this fanaticism. The prophet Amos in chapter 5 verse number 10 through13 says as follows in the name of a they despise the one who admonishes by the gate and the one who speaks purely they detest for I know your transgressions are many and sins are substantial oh oppressors of the sadik. Therefore, the prudent man keeps silent at that time for it is a time of evil. The Alad comments on this verse and says, "When they even reject the rebuers who say the truth, then they leave Hashem no choice but to turn it into a time of evil, meaning a holocaust." One of the reasons that we've mentioned many times in past years especially during the of the or the series of Mashiach of why destroyed the beta mikdash is because when he asked Jeremiah the prophet find me somebody that's rebuking the people in any and I'll forgive all of them. I'll give them more time because at least I know somebody could help people do chuva. The prophet Jeremiah went from synagogue to synagogue and could not find one person that's allowed to rebuke says now I have to rebuke meaning I have to destroy the betdash. The says the difference between and these are times of evil is because when it's you can still cry and pray to Hashem. But when it's shalom like the prophet is saying a time of evil then there's nothing that can be done because the control has been given to the in so many words if everyone listens to those that try to silence the rebuke to those that try to silence the people that are trying to help you do chuva then in essence what they're doing is they're asking for a holocaust because It's either you listen to the Torah and those that are sharing the truth of it or has to be involved. In the last couple of weeks, we heard about the plagues, the plagues in Egypt. Every young boy knows about the plagues. But what many don't know is that every single paras talks about the issues of kadusha in one way or another, including the plagues. The midrasha inmote section 15 27 says that punishes measure for measure. The frog's plague was delivered upon the Egyptians in order to emasculate the Egyptians for their LGBTQ behavior and promiscuous Egyptian women. The plague to kill the cattle was because of their group relations. Hashem sent all types of animals at once just like they behaved gave them measure for measure. Also the Mes in Schmote chapter uh chapter 8 se uh verse eight I'm sorry chapter 8 verse number two says that the frogs went inside the Egyptians in order to emasculate them there's a common dumb mentality that's been going around for thousands of years that unfortunately has not escaped our religion in our times. What is this dumb mentality? The prophet Isaiah in chapter 22 verse 13 and 14 says, "Yet behold there's joy and gladness, sleeping of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating meat and drinking wine, saying eat and drink for tomorrow we die." that this sin will never be atoned for until you die, says Hashem, master of legions. In so many words, the mentality of you only live once, is not new to our generation. Now, everyone knows what happened to the first beta mikdash. At least they know it was destroyed. Everyone knows what happened to the second betdash. At least they know it was destroyed. Everyone knows what happened in the Spanish Inquisition. At least they know that Jewish communities have been destroyed constantly from community to community. Not just in Spain, but in England, in France, in uh in uh Poland, Morocco, everywhere. We've had constant pilgrims for 2,000 years. Before the Holocaust, there was a series of pilgrims in Russia and Ukraine especially, which baffles my mind when I see many Jews supporting the Ukraine war and supporting the Ukrainians, forgetting that they're the ones that slaughtered no less than a million Jews before the Holocaust even started. But yet people continue to dismiss the fact that it's a kadosbah who's hand rebuking us because we did not listen to the rabbis that was rebuking us and telling us to do chuva. Why is that? Part of it is because of the that they are the ones that bring all the plagues and the diseases to Isab writes that the quieting everybody dismissing the rebuke is what ends up bringing all of the plagues, diseases and tragedies to Isel. Instead, what do they do? This they kiss up to the just like the said in where from the day that the rabbis needed the good of the wealthy the honor of the Torah was diminished because people started instead of leading the public they started needing the public needing them to pay for the biset needing them to buy aliot needing them to donate. Needing, needing, needing. The rabbi was no longer allowed to say whatever he wanted. But unfortunately, Abu Tayim this did not help us. In fact, it made things worse. It made things much worse. As the Rambam says in in chapter one number one that there's something called where just like someone that's physically ill desires and craves that which is not food to eat, those who are morally ill desire and love bad things, desire and love bad traits, and hate the good path. The Rambam told us that when people are sick, spiritually speaking, they will desire evil, they will desire things that are the opposite of good. And even if someone gets a spark of holiness within them that they want to do chuva, they still have to fight off the that's constantly trying to quiet them to silence the this is why it's more important than ever to not only do chuva for morality in general, but to also spread it to others. So at least you're helping people fight their many other things we could read but I wanted to bring you some things also from other books because some people think that these are just some mystical books perhaps maybe it's not part of the foundations of the Torah but before we go into the we have to always remind people what the says in page 34b in the name of in the place that chuva people that have done chuva stand the completely righteous do not stand. Why? Because a person that was born into a religious family, person that does not have the obstacles that you had growing up secular gets a reward for it. But nowhere near as much a reward as you will get for doing chuva because you chose Hashem despite the obstacles, despite the Furthermore, when there are people out there that are trying to tell you, stop talking about these bad people. Just focus on teaching Torah. Anyway, you see that they continue and there is even a teachings about not fighting against wicked people when their time is their time. It's in essence it looks like it's their time on page 6b says in the name of if you see a wicked person who is enjoying a good fortune do not contend with him as it says do not contend with the wicked men and not only that but his endeavors will be successful the palanovves and manises of the world will continue. As it says, his ways are always successful. And not only that, but he will emerge victorious in court. As it says, your judgments are far removed from him. And not only that, but he will even witness the downfall of his enemies. As it says, all his foes, he blows at them. So according to the fighting against the wicked heretics seems like a mistake. Unless you qualify. How do you know if you qualify? The says as follows. And again, no one can attest for themselves. They simply have to decide whether they think they qualify or not. And a bahud decides. It is indeed included. It is indeed. So the one should not antagonize the wicked person butan said in the name ofishim it's permissible to contend with the wicked in this world as it says those who forsake Torah praise the wicked and those who adhere to Torah contend with them and likewise it was taught in the bita said it's permissible to contend with the wicked in this world. And if someone should whisper to you, saying, "But the scripture says, don't contend with the wicked. Don't be zealous against the evildoers." Know that only one whose conscience smites him explains the verse in that matter. Rather, the correct interpretation is do not compete with the wicked. Do not attempt to be like the wicked. Do not be envious of the evildoers. Do not desire to be like the evildoers. And similarly, scripture says, "Let not your heart envy the sinners." In so many words, if you're jealous of the wicked people, if you're trying to steal the stage or you're trying to make money or you're trying to look good, then don't contend with the wicked. Why? You'll lose. But if you're trying to spread a kadosh's name for no benefit whatsoever and in fact if anything just a headache contend with the wicked anyone that tells you otherwise that's because they have a conscience perhaps they're not righteous enough perhaps they're not doing enough perhaps they really are jealous of the wicked and again like I said no one can attest for themselves of where they stand at best case scenario we are in the But needless to say, a person that wants to fight for the honor of Hashem and save his children has divine assistance in all he does, all she does. Now of course when a person starts listening to the heretics you'll see the common denominator where how they do not bring you the sources like we've brought thus far. They use their logic or sometimes they'll bring a source but they will not tell you what the sages explain that that source actually means rather they'll tell you from their own logic that it means something that's the opposite of what it actually said. This is dangerous not only for the listener this is dangerous for the individual. Even if the individual wants to be righteous as the page 22 says that there was a king that was overall righteous. His name was and he thought to himself that was uh an idol worshipper. So therefore, I could overcome him in the war. So he went to war with him. But the archers shot at King Yosha. And the king said to his servants, "Move me from here, for I have become gravely ill." Meaning he was dying. He died from that logical analysis. The enemy is an idol worshipper. So I'm certainly going to beat him wrong. Why? You should have gone to the says the on the account of what was punished because he should have consulted with Jeremiah the prophet about going to war against and he did not. Rather he concluded on the basis of his own scriptural analysis that he should block the passage of Pavo's forces using your own logic instead of theim could only lead to evil can only lead to bad can only lead to mistakes. The tells us something that the heretics don't like to hear, but the people that want to do chuva need to hear. And in fact, in Shahikm mentions this no less than a half a dozen times. What is the meaning says the of that which is written in Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse14 God has made the one as well as the other seems like has no meaning that's why we need comes and says to us this is the meaning whatever thing the holy one blessed is he created he created something else corresponding to it he created mountains he created hills he created seas he created rivers and so on and said to him that's not what your teacher said rather taught further he gave other examples What are examples? He taught you that God created righteous people and he created wicked people. He created the garden of Eden and he created gum. Each and every person has two portions. One in the garden of Eden and one in gum. When a righteous person merits, he takes his portion and his friend's portion in the garden of Eden. When a wicked person becomes guilty, he takes his portion and his friend's portion in gay. See here we see that first of all was a little careful in front of Alishah. Why? because he also learned some Torah be from him before he went off to in fact the same says that Alishah was at one point a very big sage but his desires his lust made him completely go off the he went to indulge in his pleasures to such an extent that one of the harlots saw him pay her for his services by uprooting a vegetable from the around on Shabbat and she says, "Oh, you're not the rabbi. You're a you're somebody else." From that that prostitute coined his name, Alish, but still had some respect for Alishah. So he knew that Alishah knew this. So he said he used different examples. But Alishah said, "No, no, you don't need to do that. I know what it says. God created two things." And the examples that Raba taught was righteous people, wicked people. I know the heretics like to make pretend like there's only ganaden. And the one thing I always ask, if everyone goes to heaven, why do you even bother keeping meat? You're going to go to heaven anyway. That's like the question you could ask the atheists. If everything came from an explosion, what exploded? How does nothing explode? What created the first thing? These are non-starter questions that simply collapse their entire argument. Simple questions. You said everything started from nothing. Okay. So, how does nothing explode? You say that everybody goes TO HEAVEN. FINE. WHY KEEP mitzvot for what? You're going to heaven anyway. Why don't you steal? Why don't you kill? Why don't you do whatever you want? Why? They can't answer that. But one thing else something else they can't answer is why does say that in the name of that when someone is righteous they not only get heaven but they get their friend's heaven. When someone is wicked, they not only get their gay, they get their friend's gay. Isn't it enough that you got one gum? Why do you got to get two? Says the Ramban in Shahul. Do you know why he gets two heavens or two gums? because he certainly had a friend or somebody that he was trying to inspire for the good or the bad. If he was trying to inspire him for the good and the other person did not listen, guess what? I get his ganed cuz he's not going to ganed. He's going to g. And what's going to happen with MY GAY? OH, HE GETS MY GAY HOME. In so many words, when you try to inspire people to do chuva, you're not only helping them, you're helping yourself. It's not that you want to give them your gum, but somebody has to get it. Certainly shouldn't be you. If you're doing chuva, if you're doing tikun, if you're serving a kad, somebody has to get it. But better yet, if you help them do chuva, then guess what? You not only get ganeden, you get 310 worlds in meaning it's bigger than your one ganed. Furthermore tells us something that many people do not understand when it comes to the issues of immorality. They're talking about ket is a certain punishment where a person could either die young before the age of 50 or live in a life where they see their kids die or they get punished in shaman. But the Ramban explains that it's not that they just get simply eliminated and they disappear. That would not be a punishment. That would actually be good for them if they simply just disappear. Rather, it's destruction, resurrection, destruction, resurrection, destruction, resurrection. Where do we see an example of that? talks about how Tus Tus his punishment he gets burned, turned to ashes, spread in the sea, gathered, burned, turned to ashes, gathered in the sea, and so on and so forth over and over again. What about the issues of immorality? Says, "All forbidden unions that bear penalties were included in the Torah's general statement. Whoever commits any of these abominations will incur kalate. Here the clarifies the issues of immorality are a big deal. No matter the generation, no matter the time, no matter the age, no matter the gender. But what can we do that sometimes people do not realize Satan is looking for them around the corner? Even righteous people. We've constantly mentioned to people, don't watch TV. And we thought that they would understand that also means don't watch Netflix. Don't watch YouTube films that are about all types of secular topics. Protect your eyes because the Torah reminds us every single day is that you not follow your heart and your eyes. Why? If you watch something, you see something, you think of something, it'll enter your heart and you'll end up sinning. Now, you may not think that, oh, I won't fall for a adultery. I won't fall for pornography. I won't fall for all those things. But yes, it's still a problem. Why? If you watch movies, if you watch immodesty, if you look at men, if you look at women, it enters your mind. It enters your heart. It'll affect you. What's a example of how it affected somebody in the past? Everyone knows that was such a sadik that Hashem wanted to make him mashia. That's what the says he was so righteous. Hashem wanted to make him mashiach but he failed a small test where he didn't sing to Hashem. Further, the prophet Isaiah tells us that Hashem almost killed because he didn't get married because saw his future that he would have wicked kids. So, he said, "I might as well not get married. I don't want to have idol worshipper kids." The prophet Isaiah says, "This is not for you to to do. You have to get married because you have a mitzvah. You can't look into the future and decide that you're going to act in accordance to that. That's not the reason why Hashem gave you this information. So says, "Okay, if that's the case, let me marry your daughter, THE PROPHET ISAIAH'S DAUGHTER, WHO'S MORE RIGHTEOUS IN THE WHOLE GENERATION." The says married the prophet Isaiah's daughter. Her name was. And one day page 104 says that whoever invites an idol worshipper into his house and waits on him causes his descendants to go into exile. As it says, "And some of your sons, your own your own issue whom you will have will be taken and some of your sons your own issue whom you will have fathered will be taken and they will be stewards of the palace of the king of Babylon." So in so many words is saying if you bring idol worshippers to your house and wait on them serve them this will lead to a tragedy for your descendants. Why? Because the prophet Isaiah 39:2 says that rejoiced over them and he showed them his betot and his silver and gold and spices and his fragrant oil. Who did he show? He showed me the idol worshipper king and his servants how much Hashem has blessed And what happened after that? Says showed him his treasure house and says he showed them weapons that destroy other weapons. Why? Why? Why is this? Why is this disaster comes the in chapter 12 verse number two it says that wife she waited on the guests even though she's a queen still she showed honor to the guests later that night and his wife were together and one of the servants was in her mind says because of that she had two wicked kids one of them eventually did chuva that's mane one of them lived and died an idol worshipper but how much horror did she have for what for thinking about some idol worshipper, some movie star, some soccer player, even though she was righteous, even though she was holy, that momentary thought brought her decades of suffering. gives us an idea of what it feels like to have a holy child in page 58 the says who is this son of holy ones there's somebody that's called the son of the holy ones who is this the son of why is he called the son of holy ones because he was so holy that his his parents his parents trained him to not even look at the imprinted image that's on a coin. Why? The imprinted image on coins was like all types of idol wor idols or idol worshippers don't even look at the coins. And this kid did it and that affected his nama for the rest of his life. Now again, this is not reality today for most people. Thinking about this already stresses them out. Why? I have to teach my kid not to look at money. No, the point is that it has an impact. It h everything has an impact. Whatever you bring into your house will have an impact. If you bring bad friends into your house, it will have an impact on your kids. If you bring movies to your house, it'll have an impact on your kids. If you bring Torah into your house, it'll have impact on your kids. Now, when it comes to the topic of immorality, as we said in name of the Ramban, in name of Rashi, our Torah calls morality kadusha, holiness. And you will never find holiness in a place of immorality. But what does the mitzvah itself entail? Who could we go to for details more than we can go to that have taught us in many many shim in many different a uh ways the details the details of every single mitzvah mitzvah number 188. This is in parat in the in uh which is right before says as follows. The Torah prohibits cohabitation with certain categories of women on the pain of khalit also called an English excision. The Torah labels cohabitation with them as revealing the cover part or in plural. Gilot for many people that are not knowledgeable in Torah, they always think it's uh beastiality. But no, Giluayot is immorality in plural, which includes beastiality. Women who are prohibited to men under one of these prohibitions is called anva. And collectively the prohibited women are called and says as follows. We're commanded not to conduct ourselves in an intimate matter with any one of these are the close relatives with whom the Torah prohibits cohabitation as well as a married woman and the nida meaning it's not just family members. It's also somebody else's wife and it's also a woman that's nida i.e. your girlfriend. We are commanded not to behave in such a matter without even without actual cohabitation. Meaning it's not just a cohabitation that's forbidden. It's even being playful with them. for example, were prohibited from engaging with the in hugging, kissing, or anything similar to these iniquitous actions that lentuous people who pursue futility and become futile are immersed in. In so many words, all of the flirting and that type of behavior, this is forbidden for Jews and certainly highly recommended for non-Jews to follow as well because the divorce rates in the non-Jewish world are drastically higher than have ever been in history. And this is part of the reason. When you make your wife public property and everybody can hug and kiss her and so on, then eventually somebody takes advantage and does more. When you make your husband best friends with your girlfriends, eventually one of your girlfriends wants your husband too. The sages of blessed memory expounded on this matter and asked, "From where do I know that it's prohibited even to conduct oneself in an intimate matter with such a woman?" The Torah therefore says in chapter 18 verse 19 in the book of Leviticus, you shall not approach a woman in our time of tum of nid to reveal. And from this verse alone, a person understands that it's relevant to any woman, not just his wife, even if [snorts] it's not his wife. Furthermore, the prohibition of this forbidden act of behaving intimately with anah is repeated when the Torah says in the book of Leviticus 18 26, "And you shall not commit any of these abominations, which encompasses all of these matters mentioned earlier in the passage that are an abomination to Hashem." Remember this is what the said before that all of the issues of immorality are called are called an abomination. But some heretic will tell you oh come on even eating on pes is an abomination. Yes. So what does an abomination mean? This label of abomination says the an abomination of Hashem means to say that one who engages in such activities distances themselves from divine goodness removes the providence of Hashem. Meaning they lose the blessing and they lose the protection of Hashem. Bless be he from upon himself. And according to what I've learned from my teacher, says the is the meaning of the term abomination of Hashem, wherever it's used in the same vein regarding that which is written at the end of the Torah's treatment of this subject of it says for the inhabitants of the land who are before you committed all of these abominations and I was disgusted with them. The idea behind using a phrase expressing Hashem's disgust of such behavior is to convey that such conduct is exceedingly disgraceful. And any matter that is extremely evil and repulsive is labeled by scripture as though Hashem hates it. Even though Hashem does not actually have feelings of hatred, which is human emotions. In so many words, the is telling us that anytime you see that something is called an abomination, disgusting, it's because you are doing the things that the idol worshippers were doing. Does he specify which? Yes. Who? Do not perform the practice of the land of the Egyptians or the land of the Canaanites. Why? Because these Egyptians and these Canaanites were an abomination to Hashem. When the says, "What will be done by these nations as the Torah warns us against imitating them? A man would marry another man and a woman would marry another woman and a woman would marry two men." In so many words, LGBTQ. These are considered an abomination and a married doesn't actually literally mean married ceremony means intimacy among the laws of this mitzvah that the sages of blessed memory prohibited as safeguard against transgression the prohibition of arayot namely they said that man may not gesture with his hands or signal with his eyes to one of the and may not be at all playful with them. It's even prohibited to smell the perfume that they're wearing. It's also categorically prohibited to gaze at women, even at the face of a bride with the intent of deriving pleasure. Obviously, this is not referring to your bride, somebody else's bride. The sages prohibited gazing even at their little finger. As the says, somebody that enjoys the looking at somebody else's wife's finger for sure is going to gain just for that. Needless to say, for the other sins he made. This is prohibited with all women with the exception of the man's wife at whose beauty it is permissible for him to gaze even while she's nida and forbidden to him. This is permitted because although she's now nida and forbidden to him, she will become permissible to him after a while. But again, even the things that he looks at in his wife are the elaborates and says only the parts that are typically uncovered. But the parts that are typically covered, it's prohibited to look at even by the husband while she's need. So his evil inclination does not overcome him. Furthermore, it's prohibited to a man to gaze even at the hair of a woman who's prohibited to him. This is one of the endless reasons of why the overwhelming majority of the sages throughout the last few thousand years, including now, forbid wearing wigs. Why? To look at a married woman's hair, is looking at our beauty. When she's wearing a wig, the average man does not know that it's a wig. Therefore, he still looks at and he thinks of her beauty. In today's world, where the wig looks better than her real hair, needless to say, age forbidden. And the says so, it's prohibited for a man to gaze even at the hair of a woman who's prohibited to him, somebody else's wife, your daughter's friends, and so on. And that even listening to our voice with the intent of deriving pleasure from it is prohibited. Listening to women sing prohibited. Even concerning gazing at the colorful clothing of a woman which is generally made from colorful cloth. The sages have said this is prohibited to gaze at them because whenever one is acquainted with a woman who wears them because by gazing at her beautiful clothing, this person might end up thinking lustfully about her. So he sees his neighbor's laundry outside. If it's a woman's clothing, it's a problem. Why did the sages do all of this? The sages also distance a person from by categorically prohibiting a person from inquiring of a married woman for from inquiring of a married woman with regards to our welfare even through a husband. Meaning that you shouldn't tell your friend, tell your wife I said hi. Why? Because you don't want to think his wife to think, oh, he cares about me and develop any type of relationship. You could certainly ask your friend, how is your wife doing? That's enough. But no, don't send a message through the husband to his wife. [snorts] Why this distance? Why is this distance required? Because if you don't make this distance, you could bring yourself and other people to sin. But although the particulars of many, the general rule behind all of them is that a person may not engage in any behavior whatsoever that causes him to have lustful thoughts about women, neither with action nor with speech. And the prophet Jeremiah rebuked the people of his generation in chapter 5 verse number 8 where he says they were like well-fed horses rising early each man nying to the wife of his fellow. Meaning to say that in the course of their normal daily activity while making it appear as though they had no intention for this. The people of his generation would gesture adulterous signals to their fellow's wives and they would raise their voices in a way that ensured that those women would hear them and thus arousing the women's passion to feel affection for the adulterer. Tell me this is not happening in your community where a guy comes over, talks about one of the big business deals he just did and all of a sudden your wife is looking from the window and incidentally he starts speaking a little louder so she could hear. You think it's a coincidence? No. It's as old as time. This is all this time men try and impress other people's wives. Furthermore says the if a person when he encounters an attractive woman contemplates the fact oh this is how to neutralize the is it telling people no and then say let's learn about amuna is it let's just not talk about it and pretend like it's not happening like many do in this generation or is it what we're DOING LET'S SEE WHAT does the [snorts] say is a way to neutralize the evil inclination word for word. If a person when he encounters an attractive woman contemplates the fact that geome is open between her eyelashes and that anyone who draws near her will burn in an eternal fire again that gum is opened between her eyelashes and that anyone who draws near her will burn in an eternal fire. and he redirects all of his thoughts to these matters. She will not be a stumbling block for him anymore. What is the anic book doing talking about gay? Simple. It's an absolute necessity to have fear of the almighty. It's an absolute necessity to serve according to his will. It's an absolute necessity in order not to fall to immorality. If you're not afraid of her husband, you're not afraid of his wife, you're not afraid of the law, you're not afraid of uh the it being found out, the one thing that could help you is if you're afraid of Hashem and what he's going to do to you for doing what you're about to do. You may not be afraid of the husband. YOU MAY NOT BE AFRAID OF her wife. You not may be afraid of anybody. YOU WANT TO DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. But the moment you realize you're going to burn in forever, JUST LIKE THE BOOK IS SAYING, perhaps she's not going to be a stumbling block for you anymore. Perhaps you're not going to go with this customer. Our sages of blessed memory have additionally stated in the kushim page 80B in the context of this mitzvah that it's biblically prohibited to be in seclusion with any of the whether she's elderly or young because seclusion with arayot bring one to illicit relations and when the incident of ammon and tamar occurred and his bed decreed that seclusion with an unmarried woman is also prohibited and the sage of Shmay decree that seclusion with a non-Jewish woman is also prohibited. Each generation saw how they degraded from the previous generation and added more fences to the fence. Why? Because they realized that people are falling in our generation. It shouldn't be a fence. It literally should be a safe. Put everyone in a safe. That's the only way they're not going to sin. as it is also prohibited for women to direct their thoughts to men other than their husbands. Here the is also mentioning this is all relevant. This mitzvah applies in every location in all times and applies both to men and women. And it's also prohibited for women to direct their thoughts to men other than their husbands. Meaning you telling your friend, "Oh, he's handsome," is a sin. You telling your husband, "Isn't he good-looking?" is a sin. You thinking about another man other than your husband, you are creating a problem for yourself. You're creating a problem for yourself. It's not a surprise that you ended up considering cheating or actually cheating on your husband because you little by little acquainted yourself with [snorts] immorality without even realizing it. Countless women watch these soap operas and movies and all types of things and think that it's not a big deal and then they start comparing their husband with his belly next to this movie star and they're not so happy with their marriage all of a sudden. They don't know why. I don't know why I'm not happy. I don't know why I don't want to stay uh married. The Torah doesn't say protect your eyes and your heart just to men. The Torah say the laws are only for men. Immorality is a two-way street. And this mitzvah pertains to everyone. Now, when it comes to this mitzvah, anyone that wants to overcome it, wants to have a holy marriage, wants to have holy children. It all begins with you. Don't try to influence your wife before you yourself have become holier. Work on yourself first. You become holier, your wife will follow suit. Don't try to influence your husband before you worked on yourself. You continue watching shows and so is your husband. Don't preach to others what you yourself don't do. Don't be a hypocrite. You're making the whole thing look like a joke. If you work on yourself, someone that cares about you will want to go along with you for the ride. Someone that cares about you will want to go along with you for the ride. They don't want to be left behind. They want to live with you in this world and the next. When you protect your eyes, your wife automatically becomes more beautiful. When you protect your eyes, your husband becomes the best husband. When you compare your spouse to somebody else, automatically their worth lowers. Even if the other person is not as good-looking, automatically the value of your spouse has gone down. Why? They're comparable to something. How can you compare a king to something? How can you compare a queen to something? If your husband is a king, then you are a queen. If your husband is just anybody, then you're just anybody. Many people do not understand how a kadoshbu gave them such a gift and they don't even realize what they have. And then they're surprised that their kids don't want to be religious. Then they're surprised that their kids want to intermar. THEN THEY'RE SURPRISED THAT THEIR KIDS DON'T WANT TO FOLLOW THE LAW. If you had filthy thoughts in your mind during intimacy, it will affect your kids. If you have filthy minds during your upbringing of your kids, raising your kids, guess what? It'll transfer. If you want pure namote in your kids, start as early as possible. If you've already had kids, it's not too late for you. Hopefully, they'll do chuva, too. You can't fix your kids anymore. They're already older, got married. Can't fix them. Don't worry about them anymore. You missed that boat. But you can still fix you. you can still fix you even if you're 40 or 50 or 60 or 70. It starts with understanding and accepting what the Torah says and doing everything you possibly can to fix whatever you've broken. This time of shuvim is only about a month and a half. We have less than a month left is an auspicious time for each person to do chuva for immorality. Not only with the tikunim but also with literally doing chuva itself. Why is this an auspicious time? You can do chuva for it all the time but it's an auspicious time because will help you more now than he typically will when the sages open up the gate in heaven letting us know that this time is shaveim. That's what it is every year. take advantage of this time to not only be one of these people that serves as master with his body but also with his heart. And if you do that, your life will change, your marriage will change, your eternity will change. Each and every one of you will take this to heart because the sooner we start, the sooner you will see results. If you haven't gotten married yet, you are very, very fortunate because you could start before even being married. If you're already married, but you haven't had kids, you're also very fortunate because you haven't suffered from the consequences of not doing this. If you're married and you had kids and they already are older, it's not too late for you. Either way, everyone can benefit from this. Jews, Gentiles, male, female, young, old. And the ones that benefit the most are those that not only work on themselves, but help influence the public, help influence others by encouraging them to watch these lectures that we have, encouraging them to go through this tikunit uh interactive guide, which is free. Encourage people to watch the film. Encourage people by supporting Because the more you help others, the more is going to help you. And each and every single one of us will take advantage of the suspicious time to do and we will succeed. Those of you that have questions, we're reserving the Wednesday night sh of stamp the rabbi for questions where after some you guys could ask questions. So come back on Wednesday night. Uh the sh will start at 9:00 and uh you guys could ask as many questions as you want. Thank you very much for learning with me. Anyone that wants to support could go to bhour.org or bzem.org or if you want to do a tikunim, you go to tikunit.life. >> I'd like to introduce you to your new best friend. We did [music] it. AI rabbi is here. It's an AI model that is based on kosher Torah sources. 30 different languages [music] that are available to you. So if you want to ask him in Spanish, in Chinese, Portuguese, whatever you want to do, it's available for you. Can you tell me about the via? So it's [music] timestamped to the shield. You press this green button, AI, Rabbi, on your WhatsApp. You'll have the ability to ask questions at will. You'll be providing sources and most importantly, you'll be able to know the truth and be able to rely on sources.