Tisha B'Av: What Mistakes Are We Repeating?

We are here nearly 2,000 years, 1957 years since the destruction of the beta mikdash. We're here 1957 years after the destruction of the second beta mikdash. and um nearly 2500 years since the destruction of the first beta midash. And as I was reading and some of the other commentaries that are there, you get to see the mistakes that we've made in the past. And uh really the whole goal of tishab is not just to think of a what people think of as a building that was destroyed but rather to see what mistakes we made and see if we can avoid making those same mistakes again. Because the reality is abutai if we continue making the same mistakes then we can't expect a different result. Even the famous scientist, physicist and so on uh the uh Albert Einstein said himself that uh unfortunately he did not use his wisdom uh for for Torah and for serving Hashem but still had uh a clever statement that if you repeat the same thing over and over again expect a different result considered insane. And this actually you could also find in the Rambam and in other places that said it well before him. But people are more familiar with Einstein unfortunately than they are of the Rambam and the Gar and other places. With that being said, I wanted to bring to light a few things that we haven't said in the past. um other lectures we've made over the years whether it's the tragedies of the Holocaust or Spanish Inquisition other things but rather I wanted to bring other things that uh apparently are something that uh that's that's what I've been uh that's what's been brought that's what Kadoshb has been putting in my mind and over these last few days and um perhaps this will also impact you now before we highlight some of the mistakes or some of the things that I've noticed uh that again it's not just the big things that are obvious whether it's Shabbat or immorality or uh you know stealing in business and so on there's there's other things that perhaps get less less attention before that I wanted to bring a uh something that is a significant difference between where we are today and where our grandparents were. This is one of the uh stories of Isakel Saffne, one of the masters uh and the uh founder of uh Zitichov. uh his mother who had five sons had a tradition in her family. What was the tradition? The Rabanit's name was Hinda. and she would wake up the babies at midnight, remove them from their cradles, put them on the floor, let them cry for a little bit, and then she would kiss away their tears, and lovingly tuck them away back into bed. Why did she do this? Because at midnight, Akadoshbahu cries over the destruction of his home and the exile that he put his children in. And therefore, Rabbitson Hinda wanted her tiny little babies to join Hashem in his tears. Now, of course, this is the greatest among us. This is the way they lived. They lived the destruction of the beta mikdash on a daily basis. It wasn't a once a year thing. Now, we are not at that level. Nor does anyone even think that they can get to that level overnight. But there are certainly things that we can do. The Marali Prague brings in Israel that uh some things about the destruction of the beta mdash and this whole exile that we've been in for nearly 2,000 years. He says that the first phase of the exile is symbolized by the donkey praying at night based on the sukim in pasuk in Jeremiah where uh in chapter 25 verse 30 where it says hashem will roar from the high and from his holy residence. His voice will cry out. He will roar and continue to roar over his destroyed dwellings. Where at first a donkey braze, second a dog dog barks and third near dawn an infant suckles from its mother and a wife chats with her husband. This is in page 38. So the Mali Prague says that the initial exile is symbolized by the donkey praying at night because the galut and the persecution that is unfortunately part of it begins with our oppressors treating us like a beast of burden as they burden us with discriminatory taxes. discriminatory taxes, penalties, forced labor, confine us in ghettos, and this is unfortunately only the start. This is what we our grandparents live through. I remember stories from my grandfather Saba Gabriel living through the Holocaust in Tripoli where he said that there was literally the they were killing people in the streets. There was blood on the streets and he was one of the heroes that would take the bodies and bury them even when those bodies were literally in many pieces. And he would come home every night full of blood. And when my uh when he would tell this story to my mother and her siblings, they would ask him, "Aren't you scared burying people at night?" He would tell them, "Binci, I see them." All of their faces on my hands. All of the people that he buried on his hands. And he said, "You don't have to be scared of dead people. You have to be scared of the living ones. This is what our grandparents went through. This is what your grandparents went through. But unfortunately, today's world, very few people are aware of what happened throughout our history and already have forgotten what happened just a few years ago on October 7th. How do we know they forgot? They're already voting for a two-state solution, a free Palestine, donating to help the uh the the enemy that murdered and butchered our brothers and sisters. You see it? And we're not talking about non-Jews donating or supporting. We're talking about Jewish people that are actually donating and supporting the enemies as if they didn't murder us. As if they didn't do all these horrible things to us. The second stage says the Marani Prague is anti-semitism increases violently in our enemy's desire to eradicate us. This is a stage that's symbolized by the barking dogs because the Talmud inhab page 60B teaches that when the angel of death is in the city, dogs suddenly begin to bark madly. And thus dogs barking at the second night at the second night watch symbolized at the second phase of the exile. Our enemies seek to kill us through pilgrims, blood liels, inquisitions, genocide, and the Holocaust. This is what we're seeing to any logical person's mind. One of the greatest hands of Hashem that we've seen hitting us in recent years was October 7th, but not because of the murder and the rape and all the horrible things that the Palestinians imm the Belgiums, the Americans, anywhere else instead of everyone saying, "Listen, this is horrible. You should, you're right for going against them. You're right for defending yourselves, against the Palestinians, against Hamas, against Iran. You're right." Instead of them saying that, what do they do? All of a sudden, you started seeing protests against Israel and the inner anti-semitite coming out of the woodworks out of literally hundreds of millions of people. Some of them were your neighbor. Some of them were your boss. Some of them were your girlfriend or boyfriend. Why? Because this is the hand of a kadosh when he wants to hit his children to wake them up and make them realize you're a Jew. You will never be anything else even if you try. Anyone that saw the videos we had in previous years or we made a clip out of it beautifully done by our dear team that works around the clock that was publicized today about the Nermberg laws. When you read the Nermberg laws and I remember the first time that I did I literally almost had a shock where the Nazi Germany passed laws telling the Jews that they are Jews. Reminding them that they're Jews even if they converted to Christianity. Reminding them that they are Jews even if they think of themselves as something else. You're no longer allowed to wave or even have the German flag. Even if you fought in the German army, not allowed to have the flag. You defended the country of Germany. You you say like the reform did in those days that you know Berlin is your capital not Jerusalem. The goim did not recognize that. The goim did not acknowledge that as a positive thing. In fact it made them hate the Jews even more. the to such an extent that part of the Nuremberg laws was to make every Jew have the name Israel and every Jewish woman have the name Sah. You're no longer allowed to have these non-Jewish names. Yeah, but my parents gave them to me. They were wrong. You're a Jew. You have to have a Jewish name, says the Nazi. Of course, this is all from the hand of Hashem. But we continue to see the world repeat the same mistakes. We're talking about the Jewish world repeat the same mistakes and not recognize that anti-semitism is not an opinion of the people or something that you can fight against with more propaganda with more uh you know representation in the white house or in politics in general. No, anti-semitism is the hand of a kadosh reminding his children, you are mine. You're not one of the nations. And anytime you see any person trying to represent biblical teachings, but from the perspective of the Christian world, of the Catholic world, at some point or another, you'll see anti-semitism in it. Even if they don't necessarily have that as the priority or as the prime message they want to deliver, it's within the text itself. The most anti-Semitic documents that exist on planet earth is the Quran and the New Testament. Those that do not recognize it simply have not read it. And the Prague says this is the second part of the exile. When will you finally realize? Third says the Marra, the most terrible threat of the exile appears in the third stage. With those enemies who fail to destroy us with their hatred will adopt a new approach. They will try to kill us with love. Whereas in earlier times the Jew was despised, vilified and ostracized. As the days of draws nearer, the Jew will be warmly welcomed and embraced. Whereas in earlier times into marriage was unthinkable and unspeakable, says the Mahal. The Jew will now be encouraged to assimilate. Thus, in a third watch of the night, a wife chats with her husband, meaning enemies of the Torah will speak to us intimately and lovingly as marriage partners. This insiduous holocaust of love will be far more successful than the holocaust of hate and assimilation and into marriage will decimate the ranks of the Jewish nation like no other scourge. Here the Mammi Prague literally gives us a prophecy a couple of hundred years ago of what we are living in today where you have assimilation rates that are at new all-time highs surpassing even what happened right before the Holocaust. finalizes this segment and he says, "For even though most Jews will be assimilated and alienated from Torah values, there will be a handful who will be instinctively drawn back to the authentic wellsp springsings of the Torah, just as an infant instinctively seeks nourishment at its mother's breast. This pure return movement, this chuva movement will bring an end to the darkness of exile and herald the dawn of redemption. So we see that our sages gave us a map, a map of what the future hold, which to us is the present. But in order for us to understand the map, we have to go to the key. If any of you ever learned how to read a map, which for most people is not really relevant anymore with the GPS that's available out there, but to read a map, any type of map, even if you want to read a chart, you need a key. A key meaning an explanation of what the dots mean, the distances, how big is this, how big is that. Our key is the Torah. Our key are the prophets. Our key are the words of the sages that tell us what happened and why. That's our key. And when you look at the saddest stories in the history of mankind, you will always find at the top Jeremiah a life of suffering where even though he wanted to bring happiness to the world, even though he wanted to bring the good word to his people, He was literally forced against his will to do the will of Hashem and bring a message of destruction. When we read on or any other time during the year, but specifically today, you see how horrible things were. When he brought the message to the people, they laughed at him. They tried to kill him. They burned initially. But he is the one as he starts chapter 3 saying, "I am the man." Meaning, he is the one that not only said these prophecies, but also saw them. I am the man that saw more suffering, saw more suffering than anyone else in the world. I am the man who has seen affliction. And Jeremiah witnessed this horrific situation happened, but he wasn't the first to mention it. In fact, the prophet Yesha Isaiah also gave these prophecies but in a indirect way his comment on Seph the migla. He says that the three chapters of open with a question within the verses that follow an answer is given. The first chapter is how does she sit in solitude? And later on the text says Yahushim sits repeated sinned repeatedly. Meaning why she sits in solid? Why this happened? Because she sinned. The second chapter begins with the question of how has God in his anger cast a cloud over the daughter of Zion. And the answer, your prophets foraw false and empty visions for you, meaning false prophets, people that went against Jeremiah. Instead of telling people to do chuva, they told them that Hashem loves everyone. Hashem needs everyone. He'll never punish you. There's no ganum. There's no punishment. The fourth chapter also begins with a question says, "How has the gold lost its luster?" And provides an answer from the sins of our prophets, the iniquities of our priests. Meaning again, the leadership that's supposed to tell people to do chuva did not do the job. But Isaiah said it in a different way. The prophet Isaiah warned the people about the same inevitable destruction if they continue their sinful ways. But in essence, he gave him a message that wasn't as direct, as abrupt as Jeremiah in hopes that they will understand that this will lead to destruction. This will lead to no good. Where Isaiah says, "Lift up your voice, daughter of the waves. take heed or impoverished anat. And the mid says in the name of Aba the prophet declares lift up your voice daughter of the waves where Isaiah tells Isel rather than recite songs and ballads to false gods lift up your voice with the words of Torah lift up your voice in the synagogues. He refers to Amel as the daughter of the waves. For just as the waves stand out distinctively in the sea, so does Am's ancestors stand out distinctively in the world. Further, the Hebrew word for waves is gimm, which resembles golah, the exile am referred to as the daughter of the exiles. for went into exile in Egypt. And Jacob also lived in the exile. But the midash expands further by highlighting. What do you mean by singing to the ballads and their gods? Why? Why does that matter? Okay, so they worship the the false gods. That's bad enough. What's the whole singing for? Why? Why is that of such importance that we have to be careful of that? And the midrash explains, "Do not think that by singing ballads to the gods, you will receive honor from the Gentiles. If you do so, the Gentiles will hate you even more. Observing the heritage of your ancestors will give you greater honor. Yakov, although they were forced into exile, were honored by kings and princes. And it says, "Oh impoverished." The Midash declares impoverished, meaning lacking righteousness, lacking prophecy, lacking mitzvot and good deeds. By attempting to mimic the Gentiles in material success, the Jews impoverish themselves spiritually. Meaning every time that a person from the Jewish people goes and tries to be like the nations, flash their money, flash their looks, flash all of the material possessions, not only in their own community, but outside in public. So much so that they're even donating to non-Jewish organizations. This not only hurts the possibilities of him doing mitzvah with that money, but it actually hurts the person spiritually. As we've already said, one of the greatest rebukes to the Jewish people before the Holocaust were the Nuremberg laws, where anyone that literally looks at the laws can find a verse in the Torah that tells exactly what the Nermberg law said. It's only too bad that Hashem sent a dome to remind the Jewish people of their Torah. But this unfortunately is something that has continued to happen not just during the Holocaust but before. What many people don't realize is that each time the Jewish people tried to please the non-Jews by acting as if we are one people. Eventually the nations use that to hurt us. What many people don't know is that the Vatican today it's known as one of the richest entities on planet earth. But there were multiple times that the Vatican was nearly bankrupt about 230 years ago when Pope the the sixth pope died after the overthrowing of the French monarchy. The Vatican was in dire straits in a situation where they could literally be forced to close down everything. They needed a huge cash infusion that they could not get from anywhere because the world was upside down. Everyone needed the money. Who came to the rescue? The Rothschild family headed by James D. Rothschild who was head of the bank and his brother Carl Rothschild who is located in Naples and they came to the Vatican and funded them and became the official bank of the very same institution that was spearheading anti-semitism throughout the centuries. During few decades later when there was more wars in the world and Germany was at war. the very same Germany that stole $600 million worth of gold from the Jews that they literally pulled it out of their mouth and every other part of their bodies and and bank accounts and everywhere they can get the gold from. That very same Germany was a partner with the Vatican, funneling money to the Vatican through Switzerland, through different entities in order to hide it from the world. Part of this was and many other things was managed by a person named Benedo Nogo who came from a Jewish family that converted to Catholicism. He became the chief financial officer, if you will, of the Vatican, abandoning his Jewish brothers, abandoning his Jewish grandparents, and becoming not only one with the nations, with his belief system, but actually helping them prosper. He helped them hide money during the different wars that happened over the last couple of hundred years, especially the last hundred years. That's when he was involved. Start a Vatican bank place that became one of the prime places to launder money and also one of the vehicles that helped facilitate helping Nazi war criminals escape punishment after the war by helping them move to other countries, whether Argentina or other places. We can't do anything about what happened 80 years ago as much as we can't do anything about 2,000 years ago. But what we can pay some attention to is what's happening now. A few days ago, I got an email with some headlines of what's happening in the Jewish world. And one of them was this one, an article that highlights a act of if you will at least that's the way they're highlighting it. What is this act of that is now recognized internationally the American Jewish Committee meaning they're not hiding their heritage. They're not hiding who they get their money from. the American Jewish Committee, which is a nonprofit that has a quarter billion dollars in the bank and over $80 million a year donated to it, mostly by Jews. The American Jewish Committee donated $25,000. Although seems to be a poulry sum, but look to listen to where they're donating your hardworking dollars to. The American Jewish Committee donated $25,000 to help repair the Holy Family Church, the only Catholic church in Gaza, which was damaged by errant Israeli munitions last month. The organization says, see here, the American Jewish Committee feels that they need to fund the church. So much so that they highlight in the article that the CEO of this American Jewish committee says, "We're deeply saddened by the deaths and injuries and structural damage at the Holy Family Church in Gaza and stand in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters." Last I heard, Catholics and Jews are not brothers and sisters. You could be decent neighbors. You could be cordial to each other. You could even do business together so long as it's not to fund some type of missionizing and idolatry. But no, here the American Jewish Committee feels like they need to help build a church. So much so that they feel these are Jewish values. And this is not what I'm saying. This is what they're saying. where in a statement the American Jewish Committee described the donation that it's doing what's right and consistent with Jewish values. They feel that donating to a church in the name of the Jews is Jewish values. I don't usually make comments on articles, but I felt the need that someone has to make a comment. Unfortunately, they removed my comment about 3 minutes after I put it there. And unless they put it back, you won't see it. So, I'll just tell you what it was. Jews donating to a church is as much Jewish values as eating pig is. I added a few other words, but I don't remember every word for word. But point is, I'll I'll find it and I'll send you guys a screenshot. I'll put it on the video tomorrow. Now, it seems like a poultry sum, 25,000. Why are you making a big deal out of it? I'm not making a big deal out of it. They are. They are making a big deal out of it. When was the last time that you publicize a $25,000 donation you made to whatever you donate to save some cat? You donated to save Steve the elephant. You donated to save, you know, suffering butterflies that are missing a wing in Africa. Did you publicize it to the world? Usually no. Especially if you have a quarter billion dollars behind you. But they decided to make this a big deal because they want to be favored by the Gim. Like I said, and I'll continue saying to be amicable, to be cordial, to be decent, to do honest business with non-Jews is a mitzvah. to to be to to be good would say hello to everyone before they would even say hello to him even if they were non-Jews. There's no problem. We even have great students and even volunteers that are non-Jews. Certainly they're not idoltors, but the point is that they there are plenty of non-Jews that are decent people, but to go and publicize how the Jewish people are donating to build churches and publicize to make sure that it hits every part of the media. That means that the publicity of it is much more important to them than anything else. Now, if this was the only story, I'm not even sure I would mention it, but this was the smallest. It wasn't too long ago when the church, the Notraame church, the same place that burned 12,000 Torah books in a single day. Few hundred years ago, that church was burnt down. Now, this is not something for a Jew to cry over, nor do you need to make some celebration either in public. But apparently after this church, the very same church that destroyed and tried to literally destroy the entire world of Torah, few hundred years after it did this damage, after it got burnt down, Jewish billionaires decided they want to rescue and rebuild the church. Two Jewish billionaires have pledged a total of 122 million dollars towards the restoration of Paris's Notraam Cathedral which was ravaged in a fire. Lily Saflra, a Brazilian philanthropist, said she would give $22 million to restore the Notraam Cathedral, an iconic church. Francois Better Meyers, the French owner owner of L'Oreal, pledged another $100 million according to CBS. Between the two of them, they were nearly 20% of the $700 million that was collected for the restoration at that point. And of course, how do we know that they donated this money? Maybe this is hearsay. Maybe this is just to make them look bad. No, they themselves publicized it. Meyers announced a donation on Twitter following the French presidental Macron's call on philanthropist to help collect funds for the operation. Wait, did I hear the French president's Macron's call to help? Isn't that the same French president that just said a few days ago that he recognizes the Palestinian state despite the fact that this will endanger all of the Jewish lives in Israel and around the world? The same guy we had a good relationship with for so many years that now spit on all the Jewish people in his country and outside of it. Yes. The same Macron And this betan courts Meyers was not just alone in this donation. She had Saffra, Lily Saffra, a family that has donated countless dollars to help the Jewish world also. So it seems like she did good. The family did good. Is the good really coming because they care about Judaism, about Torah? Well, apparently the American Jewish Committee's CEO, David Harris, said, "Whether Catholic or not, Notre Dame Cathedral is an integral part of our shared legacy and soul. It represents centuries of French and European faith, culture, history, and imagination. We share the pain of the French people and Catholics worldwide. and watching this landmark house of worship burnt. This kissing up to the nine Jewish world has never helped the Jewish people. In fact, one of the institutions that the Safra family has donated to publicized Torah and in one of their Toras that they publicized, we only wished that this Lily Saffra would have read it. And I'll read you exactly what they wrote. An article by Rabbi Daniel Nustat discussing this one called do not show them favor. The Torah prohibition of don't show them favor. Don't show them favor appears in the context of laws governing the relationships that the conquering Jewish nation should have with the defeated remnants of the seven nations who resided in Is before Yeshua Benoon's time. The Torah admonishes us to destroy them, not to seal a covenant with them, not to intermar with them, not to show them favor. Now not showing them favor is interpreted by the sages to have three practical applications to our lives today which we will explain each one briefly. One do not sell them land init is dedicated by Hashem as a land to the Jewish people and for the Jewish people where the mitzvot of the Torah can be kept with intensity and devotion. Idol worshippers and Gentiles do not belong in the holy land at all and they certainly may not own property there. It's therefore forbidden for a Jew to sell any property in to a non-Jew even if the non-Jew is not an active idol worshipper and even if the sale will benefit the Jew only. Renting or leasing a house or apartment to a non-Jew is permitted. Two, do not give them free gifts. Giving a gift shows affection or at least more than casual acquaintances which can lead to forbidden relationships ultimately even to intermarriage. It's therefore forbidden to give a gift to a gentile if one is doing so for no reason other than establishing a friendship or relationship. This is the donations we're talking about. If however the purpose of giftgiving is to benefit the Jew, it's permitted since it's no longer a gift but rather an incentive for the future or a payback for the past. Thus, it's permitted to tip a waiter, a taxi driver, a barber, etc. for a job well done. To give a gift to the mailman to show appreciation for his work, or to give a year-end bonus to a valuable employee. This is permitted even if the Jew will not benefit from the non-Jew in the future. Indeed, once it's established that tips and gratuitities are permitted, failure to do so when customary constitutes as orthodox would be seen orthodox Jews would be seen as lacking good manners and appreciation. So the question is, is it permitted to give a gift to a non-Jewish employee colleague during the non-Jewish holiday season? Obviously, Jews are forbidden to celebrate non-Jewish holidays as many of them are considered to be a function of idolatry. But as explained earlier, giving a gift to an employee or to a person who renders service is merely an expression of gratitude, a form of payment for past or future service, which is not considered a celebration of Abu Dh is permitted and it's therefore permitted. It's proper, however, that no specific mention be made, that the gift is in honor of the non-Jewish holiday, and that the gift be given a day or two before or after the holiday rather than the holiday itself. Although giftgiving giftgiving to non-Jews is forbidden, it's appropriate to give charity to non-Jewish co causes such as those that combat illness and hunger. This is permitted even if all the charity funds will benefit non-Jews only. So here they specify you're allowed to give to a let's say a non-Jewish organization that feeds the poor that uh that helps the needy but there's no place on planet earth that you will ever find one of the Jewish sages saying that you're allowed not only to give to build a church that missionizes that is full of anti-semitism that is practicing the opposite of what Torah says is but on top of that to publicize it. Number three, do not admire them. It's forbidden to admire non-Jews, including admiring his or her appearance, his actions, or his statements. This is a special clarification for all of those that constantly talk about how they admire this celebrity or that celebrity or this billionaire or this president or that president. It's forbidden. Now, they bring all the Torah sources on the bottom and many many other uh uh places. You could easily find the article out there. do not admire them. It's forbidden to admire a non-Jew, including admiring his or her appearance, his actions, or his statements. If, however, the intent is to praise Hashem who created such an admirable person, it's permitted, it is also permitted to praise a non-Jews accomplishments in the sciences of arts. Similarly, honoring a non-Jew in appreciation of past favors he has done for the Jewish community is permitted. Honoring a non-Jew for the purpose of raising funds for Jewish institutions should be avoided but is permitted when it's determined there's no other alternative. Meaning if you have a non-Jew that wants to donate a lot of money to help Torah organization, you're allowed to give him the honor if that's what it's going to take cuz it's let's say a thank you dinner or something like that and you said thank you to all the other Jewish donors and he's also coming up on stage. You want to say thank you to him, you're allowed because if you don't do it, it would seem very odd. It could be could be a major problem. But to go and publicize this guy is the greatest because he donates $100 a month to our local yeshiva. No, it's permitted to visit a non-Jew who is ill. To dive in and to give charity on his behalf is even allowed to eulogize him in his sh to assist his burial or comfort of his relatives. All of this is allowed. Meaning, like I said, you could be cordial, you could be decent, you could be even friendly with non-Jews, but there's a very, very important line not to cross. He writes at the end, this is his note. People wonder why some of the al derived from are often ignored as today it has become common place to admire and praise non-Jews for their talents, athletic ability or statemanship. Certainly this laxity can be partially attributed to the great American melting pot and to the influence of society and secular media to which we are constantly exposed to. Possibly those who are lax follow the opinion of the who maintain that his applies only to non-Jews who are active idol worshippers and however does not follow this opinion and clearly rules that the laws derived from applied to all non-Jews including Muslims who are not idol worshippers and the only exception would be to a non-Jew who became a a gto in the times of the which is not relevant today. In so many words, the very same Torah institutions that publicize truth that people donate to don't necessarily have the readership of their donors at all times. Sometimes people just donate to make themselves good, feel good, but they don't really necessarily learn what's the organization all about. I wonder if all of the donors to the American Jewish Committee are aware of their Catholic Brotherhood and funding of all types of churches and ideas. No matter what we do, no matter where we live, the last 2,000 years have confirmed that will never allow us to com to assimilate into the non-Jewish world. And therefore, says when the Jew is not mad Shabbat, he's not sanctifying Shabbat, Hashem will send the non-Jew to make havalah. Havdalah means what you do at the end of Shabbat to separate from the holy to the mundane. But AVdalah also means separation. Meaning Hashem sees that the Jew is not sanctifying the Shabbat. He's not sanctifying the life of Torah because he thinks he's like the non-Jews. Hashem sends the non-Jew to make the separation and remind you that you are a Jew and you are not a non-Jew. Even if you call yourself whatever name you want to call yourself, even if you dress the way you want to dress, even if you act the way you want to act, which is not in a Jewish way, Bahu at some point or another will remind you you are a Jew. And I can't tell you how many horrible stories of intermarriage have come to my desk where people wake up and realize that they've made a mistake by marrying a non-Jew because the non-Jew reminded them that they're a Jew. After they're married, after they have several kids together, initially it was all roses. They married. They love each other. Everything seems great. She's the one for me. He's the one for me. Then kids come and all of a sudden the Christian father wants to take the kids to church. But the Jewish mother says, "No, no, no. I don't want to take the church. I thought we're not going to live a religious life." He says, "You don't have to be religious, but I'm taking the kids to church with my uh parents." And all of a sudden she realizes that this is not what she signed up for. The father all of a sudden has these dreams that he wants the kids to be pastors and priests and follow the ways of his great ancestors and vice versa. sends each and every single one of us messages throughout all of our lives. Yes, there are some amazing stories like mine where you found somebody ended up converting to Judaism, became even more righteous and more religious, more dedicated to than you. But these are few and far in between. Many people don't have such a luck. Many people don't have such dedication in their life. Many people do not have such fortune. You want to try it, by all means try it. But you'll see that made sure that you will be reminded that you are a Jew and sometimes that reminder will come from a slap from the non-Jew. was in a Holocaust Bergen Belin, one of the most horrific concentration camps of World War II. The story that uh people saw, people witnessed says, "Once someone managed to get some margarine and with the thread from his ragged clothes, the Rebi impoverished, improvised and made a kanuka minora in a concentration camp. The creativity and devotion that they had to mitzvot was unprecedented. Many people came to see this light and hear the blessings. And the bulls ofi is said the first blessing. Thank you Hashem for commanding us to kindle the Kaneka lights. Then he said the second blessing. Thank you Hashem for performing the miracles for our ancestors and for us. When he was about to recite the third blessing, he paused, turned his head, and he saw the hundreds of eyes looking at him, waiting to hear what he says next. He turned back and in a strong voice made the third blessing. Thank you, Hashem, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this time. A few minutes later, someone approached the Rebi and he asked him, "Rebi, I understand that you made the first two blessings, thanking Hashem for the commandment and for the past miracles. But what about the third one? I don't understand. How could you make the third blessing like to bring us here to the concentration camps where they're killing us on a daily basis? Can we really thank Hashem for keeping us alive and bringing us to this horrible place where we suffer, we starve, and we're butchered day after day. Replied, you're right. You're right, my dear Jew. When I reached the third blessing, I had the same thought for a moment. I looked around. Can I really thank Hashem for being here? But when I turned my head to ask to distinguish rabbis who was standing near me, what should I do? I saw hundreds of eyes, Jewish eyes looking at me. And I got from it. I got encouraged. I said, "Look at our holy nation in the midst of the most terrible suffering we've seen. Look how much amuna they have even inside the concentration camp where they want to fulfill a mitzvah that endangers their life. They all endanger their lives just to do this mitzvah. Because if the Nazis see us, hear about us doing this mitra, they kill all of us. But they're all here. And I must truly say this is the blessing. Thank you, Hashem, for keeping me alive, sustaining me, and bringing me here to see my Jewish brothers and sisters recognize your mitzvot, recognize your Torah, despite what it looks like from the outside. Our sages did not become our sages just because they read some books or just because they were good speakers. Our sages dedicated their lives to the word of Hashem through thick and thin. Whether it was the concentr concentration camps or the Spanish Inquisitions or the destructions that happened, the countless destructions that happened, whether it was the eight different crusaders that went from Jewish community to the Jewish community and massacred Jews just because of their beliefs, or it was the countless other horrible things that happened. Anytime the Jews glued themselves to Akadosh. We saw blessings. We saw prosperity. We saw that even the nations feared us whether we had an army or not. And unfortunately the same Torah also shows us that any time we started kissing up to the Gentiles, we started appealing to them and trying to have them like us. This only ended up being fuel to the fire they wanted to burn us with. And many times they did. When we did the will of Hashem, we publicized Hashem's name in such a way that many Gentiles came and joined Isel. As the page 11A says, a story that will live for eternity, a story about a non-Jew at the time of the beta mikdash. As we know, the written Torah and the oral Torah was given to us at Mount Si. Everything that we have stands on this and made sure that one of the stories that the sages will put in the oral Torah will be this story about a non-Jew with his non-Jewish mother. who later is said to convert. But nonetheless, this is before they converted. The says as follows. There was an episode involving King Munaz. King Munbaz was not Jewish, but he saw the glory of the Jewish people serving Hashem in the Torah at the time of the beta mikdash and he decided to deplete his own treasures and the treasures of his forebears to donate to the Jewish people and feed the poor people during the years of famine when his brothers and his father's family came came to him they banded together against him protesting hey your fathers hoarded their wealth and added to their fortune and the fortune of their forefathers you are instead of increasing the family's riches you're liberally expending them. Why are you destroying the work of generations? Needless to say, why are you giving it to the Jews? Munbas said to his family, "My fam, my father's hoarded wealth below on this earth. But I by giving donations to the world of Torah, to the Jewish people, I ahoarded the merit for heaven, for the above. And the sages say this is what it's written in Psalm 85:12, when truth will sprout from the earth, charity will gaze down from heaven. Moonbas further said, "My fathers hoarded their wealth in a insecure place." Meaning they put the hand of of people that uh are destroying the world. They're not following the Torah, not following Hashem. I hoarded my wealth in a secure place. Meaning, I gave it to I gave it to funded Torah. As it says, charity and justice are your throne's foundations. This is in Psalm 89:15. My fathers hoarded something that does not produce fruit. Why? Okay, you buy a building, that's it. You buy another horse, that's it. Doesn't produce fruit. But I have hoarded something that does produce fruits. As it says, "Say of the righteous man that it shall be good for they shall eat the fruit of their good of their good deeds." Meaning if you give staka to the right place, this will produce fruits both in this world and the next. That's why I always tell people if you're donating significantly and you don't see a blessing, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. And I've told people time and time again, if you're donating at least to our organization for a period of time and you don't see a blessing, there's something wrong with us. Stop donating. The same thing you should do with others. If you're donating to organizations that are funding churches, certainly you're not going to get a blessing. If you're donating to place where there's false prophet certainly you're not going to have a donation that's going to bring fruit even moonbas before converting and becoming a righteous Jew knew this and he says my fathers hoarded stores of money and I have hoarded stores of souls those people I have preserved through my gifts of charity help people do chuva help people eat as it says says in Proverbs 11:30, "The fruits of the righteous is a tree of life, and one who acquires souls is wise. My fathers hoarded the wealth for others to use, but I have hoarded the reward for my charitable deeds for myself." As the Torah says again, "And for you it shall be charity." This is in Deuteronomy 24:13. And lastly, he says, "My fathers hoarded wealth for this world, and I have hoarded merits for the world to come." As it says, "And your charity shall go before you, and the glory of God shall be your reward." Isaiah 58:8. Here we see not just a righteous person that in his beginning was not Jewish and later on converted to be a righteous Jew but understood clearly the true glory of Am when they serve Hashem through the Ta and even though he was a king even though he was powerful even though he could do whatever whatever he wants. He chose to go and help the Jewish people. He didn't need any of them to kiss up to him. He didn't need any of them to praise him. He didn't need any of them to write this in. And he never knew it was going to be written in. But made sure that this is part of the eternal Torah because this is the what's going to be written in your Torah, your private Torah when you go up to Shine that you donated to a church, they donated to some criminal, they donated to false prophets. What's going to be written? One of the worst things that Am is had to deal with during the destruction of the beta mikdash was false prophets. People that simply decide to tell you their version of the truth even though it's the opposite of what the Torah says. Go and be whatever you want to be. Even if the Torah forbids it, Hashem loves you no matter what. This type of falsehood is not new today. It also existed back then. Go and give your resources to idolatry. God loves you no matter what. This is not new today. This also existed back then. Of course, everyone understands that even if you donate a billion dollars to the Torah, but you don't keep the Torah, you don't keep Shabbat, you don't keep the basics of mitzvot, it's not going to help you. Because fulfilling the Torah is more important than even supporting the Torah. Because if you're supporting the Torah just because you think it's a good thing to do without following the Torah, that means you think it's a good thing to do based on your rationale. The same thing that the Rambam writes about a Noahide. A Noahide that observes the seven laws of Noah. Only because it makes common sense to them and not because Hashem commanded him to do it does not get rewarded for observing the seven nohide laws. In fact, I'll get punished. Meaning, the whole point of the Torah is for us to fulfill it. To give because said to give to specific places, to learn because said to learn specific things, to do specific things because said to do specific things. If we start applying this to our lives where we do what the Torah says, not only will we have the map that we need with the key in order to know how to read this map, but we'll also have eliminated any anxiety about whether we're going in the right direction or not. Many times people start off in the right direction, but there's some type of false prophet that veers them into the wrong one. The way you need to know, and you can know whether you're continuing to stay on the right path or not, the right direction or not, is to see if it's in accordance with the Torah. If it is, keep going. only blessings are ahead. But if you see that your life turns upside down, if you see that all of a sudden you have all types of troubles that you didn't have before, as the says, delve into your actions. Look into them. What have you changed? What have you changed? The first two kids were healthy, were great. The third one has troubles. What have you changed? The first job was good. You were making money. This new job, you're losing money. What have you changed? You were healthy. Now you're sick. What have you changed? Things changed. If you say that this is just a circumstance of time, uh, bad luck or anything like that, that is, that's heresy. Why? Everything Everything is the hand of Hashem. As Jeremiah says in Aah, has there ever been anything or anyone that has issued a decree that came into existence without a approving it? Can anything happen without a approving it? Each and every single person needs to take whatever time is left of and do what's called introspection. Review your life over the last six months, over the last 12 months, over the last few years. See if things have improved. See if things have deteriorated. And then try to think of what have you changed? What have you changed? If things haven't gone well, what can you change? What can you change? Well, look into the Torah and it makes it obvious. Each one of us has to do chuva. has to make sure that we not only go and learn from the right people, but we support the right people, that we do the right things in accordance to the Torah, in accordance to what Hashem said, and not because we like it, not because it's popular, not because of any other reason other than this is the will of Hashem. The more we do the will of Hashem, the more we understand that blessings are ahead and each and every single one of us will have endless blessings from this point on until the Mashiach comes where we will all celebrate the ultimate salvation in the climax of this world where's name is going to be sanctified and we will never have to mourn even a single second over the destruction of the past because we'll have too much to celebrate of the salvation of today. Thank you very much for learning with me. This will be the last we all see because the salvation is near called All right. foreign. Bye-bye.