When Is Best Time for Duties of Heart | TORAH FOUNDATION (13)

I need more suns [singing and music] before a word before the soul returns. A gift you gave me [singing] soul from60. No phone, no rush, no worldly [singing and music] sound, just gratitude before my feet touch and all. That's how we live. Let's [music] go. I am not growing. [singing] >> New day, new strength, new chance [music] to rise [singing] to serve the king with open eyes. My soul is [music] clean. The greatest gift I've ever seen. If I need the bathroom that comes first clean and water flows three times each [singing and music] side right then left the hands purified. [music] [singing] Only then do blessings. Only then I [music] feed my heart. Every detail, every step protects the soul that not acts but holy shapes our day. I'm alive again. >> New day, new strength, new chance to rise to the king with open eyes. My soul is clean. The greatest gift [music and singing] I've ever seen. SHOOT A HOPING CLEAR AND BOLD like a lion brave and control the pull you back [music] and lie late morning steal your spiritual [singing] side. The Jew who wakes to love and prays the tone for the entire day before I [music] return. [singing] I first give his rightful place. No good morning >> from waking [music] up till [singing] day is done. I walk with him in all my ways. My life is true. Each morning starts [music] with serving you. And so [singing] return one day to the path. We're back here on our Sunday night shield Torah where we're going to the series based on a series that is uh very deep lots of in every tonight's show is going to be for the foravid and all of Isra and all the righteous Noah that continue to support the organization. And a big to all of you that are taking the initiative to do right now for the it's not just it's also you know sometimes men have done things that they need to fix sometimes women have done things they need to fix and our Torah gives us the opportunity to do everything possible to fix fix what we have broken fix what we have made mistakes with and tonight we're going to go through another segment of the that takes us another step another step closer to understanding the obligation. Now we've uh learned from that the duties of the heart in so many words inspecting the heart meditating on what's in your heart doing what's called and all of the different things all the different all of the different things that a person needs to do when they're serving a kadosh when they're pretty much when they're alive is something that's an obligation according to the written in Torah, according to the oral Torah, according to logic. And now Raenu clarifies when is the best time to do it. Is it in the morning? Is it in the afternoon? Is it at night? Is it on Shabbat? Is it on Yum? Perhaps all of the above. After we hear the words of the we're also going to hear some amazing stories of from previous generations that will help us understand the next steps in the duties of the heart. So says as follows and in essence so far in this introduction in this he's been telling us not just the subject matter but also his own personal journey of writing this book why he wrote this book and all of the questions that went through his mind of whether he should or he shouldn't showing us the extraordinary humility in this giant gaon that lived a thousand years ago. And he says as follows. When I became convinced of the obligatory nature of the duties of the heart, whether from the viewpoint of reason, scripture or rabbitic tradition. I thought perhaps this class of duties is not applicable at all times and in all places just like the sabbatical year, the jubilee, the sacrifices. In so many words again he is telling us why should I write this book perhaps it's not necessary why not necessary initially I thought maybe it's not necessary to write it because it's not written in a Torah but then I found out it is written in a Torah then I thought maybe it doesn't make any sense but after thinking about it makes all the sense in the world then I thought perhaps no one wrote it because it's not in the oral Torah. But then I found out it's all over the oral Torah more than the first two. So now I'm thinking maybe I nobody wrote about this until now because it's one of those rare mitzvot that you only have to do once in a while like the jubilee every 50 years or the sabbatical year once every seven years or sacrifices that you could only do it when there's a beta mikdash which unfortunately we haven't had for the last couple thousand years. Maybe that's the reason that no one has written about it. He says, "But when I looked into the matter, I discovered that they are binding at all times all of our lives without let up and there is no excuse if one is not involved with them." He says once I actually looked into it looked into the sources not only did I confirm that it's an obligation of it written in the oral Torah as well as reason but it's also an obligation to such an extent that there is no such thing as when should I do it whether Monday Tuesday or or Shabbat no it's all the time the obligation is upon us at all times For example, he says one is obligated to acknowledge in one's heart God's unity to serve him in one's inner life. Here he's mentioning the six constant mitzvot. There are six mitzvot that a Jew is obligated to do at all times. And it starts off with Hashem's unity knowing that Hashem exists. person that does not know that Hashem exists has a very serious problem that must be fixed immediately. Now, of course, knowing that Hashem exists helps a person fulfill the others. Why? Because the others are now you know he exist. You have to serve him in your life, not just in synagogue, not just when you're busy doing a mitzvah that other people are watching you at all times. in so many words. there's no other gods to fulfill the commandments which were bound by and to long for them as it's written in Psalms 119:5 with that my course be steady in keeping your statutes says David meaning that I am always ready to do and fulfill your laws and I yearn for Next is to have trust in Hashem and to place one's life in his care. As it says in Taim 62:9, trust in him at all times, people pour out your hearts before him. Next he says to banish hatred and jealousy from one's heart. So now he goes further than the six obligations. The six constant are to know that Hashem exists, that there's no other gods, that God is one. Love God, fear God, and don't stray after your desire. Don't stray after your desire of your eyes. Those are the six constant mitzvot that every Jew is obligated at all times. If a person understands the simplicity here, they understand also the obligation. Once a person knows that Hashem exists, certainly if they know if it's if it's the right God, if it's the only God, then there's certainly no other God. But the moment that a person puts faith in anything else other than God, whether it's a person or it's money or it's a position or it's a president or it's a government or it's a weapon or it's a uh whatever it is, you have a deficiency in your knowledge of God and you've made something else something that you have faith in. Furthermore, to know that God is one. This may seem simple to Jews, but it's not so simple to the nations, especially those that follow the New Testament that have divided God into three. Needless to say, also to some Jews that have turned their rabbi into a mini god, even though he died 30 years ago. One of our dear students that started a channel with many of our videos takes clips of different lectures we've done over the years. And one of them was really got the attention of a lot of people that have been sending me messages and calling non-stop where a segment of a lecture I did a couple years ago where I explained to somebody what is wrong with Kabad today. One person sent me a message saying, "Don't you want to apologize for this video? This is not the way." I don't apologize for any truth that I've ever said. Needless to say, are the all of the kabadnik that have been bad mouthing not just me, care less about me, but bad mouthing the Torah, the truth of the Torah, and following heretics, the command is freed man. they can apologize also and do chuva. The point being is that of course even there in that video I specified that there are some good. It's not all bad but there's a so much bad that's coming out that's making so much noise that it's drowns out the good. When a person does not understand that God is one, they could easily become a heretic and start thinking that there is multiple gods like the Christians. They could start thinking that God is needy like Manis Freedman and his followers which include people that call themselves rabbis as well. Once a person does not understand that God is one, that there's nothing else like him, a person starts creating their own definition. And therefore, the next of the six constant is to love God. What does it mean love God? That his interest, that his will is beyond your will. Most people think they love God, but they don't understand what it really means. It's like saying, "Does the fisherman love fish or does he like to eat them?" Because if he loved fish, why does he eat them? Does a person love God or he loves what God gives him? Do you look forward to doing mitzvot or do you look forward to the reward you will get if you do the mitzvah? When a person elevates themselves to the point of loving God, that means that their personal interest has become in line with will. But in order to get that there has to be a foundation and that foundation is that's why that's the fifth. These are not in order of when to do them. These are simply the six constant mitzvot. You could put them in any order you want. But fearing God, this is the fourth mitzvah that the Rambam lists in the 613 mitzvot preceding loving God. Why? Because there is no loving God without fearing him. Fearing him has levels just like loving him has levels. But fearing God means that you actually recognize that who God is. If you don't fear God, then you don't understand what you're dealing with. You don't understand that he's the one that is in charge of your vision, of your breathing, of your hearing, of your taste. Imagine spending a whole life without taste. Some people got that understanding once Corona happened a few years ago where they lost their sense of taste for a few months, sometimes longer, sometimes less. Imagine a person does not have the ability to see. There's one of ina that uh lives in the uh neighborhood where Rab Fry grew up and he knows him when this Sadik actually was able to see was able to see but he lost his vision through some sickness. But to this day he studies Torah every single day with special headphones and even writing tools even though he can't see anything. His dedication to the Torah did not go down. That comes not just from fear of Hem, fear of Hashem, but also loving of Hashem. But this is not something that you can acquire by getting some type of uh some rubber band to put on your hand or put some type of gold chain. There are plenty of heretics and Shabbat that have a chain on their neck that's maybe worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that say they love God or some symbolic thing like a the Ten Commandments, but they don't follow the Torah. People confuse their desires with what Hashem's will is. They think that whatever they desire therefore is Hashem's will. And that's why the next constant mitzvah is don't stray after your desires. If a person sees that he's constantly or she's constantly following her desires that are against the will of Hashem that are violating the mitzvot that are desecrating Shabbat that are wasting seed that are committing immorality that are gambling that are doing things that a kadu forbids then certainly your love of God fear of God are virtually non-existent. And even your knowledge of God is questionable because how can you sin in front of the king when you know that the king is right in front of you at all time? And if you don't know that he's in front of you at all times, then your knowledge of God is questionable. There's a whole new uh I don't know what to call it, clal curse happening in the business world with the new social media that we have today that everybody that wants to publicize their business is using social media just like we do. The problem is they show their business transactions, but they also show how they're ruining their blessing at the same time without realizing it. I believe this started in a jewelry business, but I may be wrong. I know it's just more common there, but it's actually moved on to practically every business. What is it? People do a transaction. They want to buy a shoe or sneakers. I don't know why people buy such expensive sneakers, but they do. I saw somebody sent me a clip of uh somebody buying sweatpants for $18,000. I don't know whether it's money growing on trees or people are just that stupid. I'm not really sure. Nonetheless, people are making transactions and doing all types of business, buying jewelry, $300,000 watches, million-dollar watches. cars, all types of things. And at the end of every transaction practically, there is you want to flip a coin. Either pay me$10,000 or I don't know 15,000 or whatever the amount is in some cases $50,000 bet. Now, this may seem like, oh, just for fun. But if you are doing it just know you are disrespecting the that is giving you and the sages have promised in the name of those who gamble they're disrespecting Hashem's shea this blessing and will end up losing everything to the point where they'll be looking for bread. Looking for bread. Yeah. Today looks like you're making $5 million a month. I don't know, a million dollars a month. Whatever you're making. Life is long. And you'll see how things change. My recommendation for people is simply stop it. But who listens to me? Anyway, the goes beyond the six obligations that the sages have taught us because he's telling us these also stem from the same thing. If you're going to fulfill this constant obligation of you have to realize that it applies everywhere. It applies in every aspect of your life. In fact, the um writes that if somebody is so sick or so incapacitated that they can't learn Torah, they can't fulfill mitzvot, they can't pray, then at the very least they still fulfill the will of Hashem by saying these seven words. I believe with complete faith that Hashem is one and there's nothing like him. And this is even if he just thinks this, he's not able to study Torah, he's not able to listen to he's not able to pray, but you could still fulfill the will of Hashem by simply thinking that God is one and there's nothing like him. Some of these things for religious people seem simple, but you'd be surprised how many religious people struggle with this because they forget that Hashem is not only at or at kouch or at specific times of their life. Some people think that it's so simple that how could somebody not understand it? They may not want to. No, no. People want to do the will of Hashem if they only knew what it is. Some people are so ignorant of what the will of Hashem is, what the commandments are that they simply think it's good suggestions. And therefore, the is telling us that this obligation of the duties of the heart is a constant obligation. Because if you're constantly investigating your heart and comparing it to what commanded, you will see that there's a constant need to inspect, to fix, and to grow. And he says, "Trust in Hashem at all times to have the says there are certain things that always need, always need to be strengthened. And one of them is not something that you could completely acquire through reading books. Certainly we've done serieses about them and those of you that are fortunate enough to watch them or now or in the past certainly gained but that's not enough. Certainly there are books about it and those of you that have read them are fortunate but it's not enough. Why? Because needs constantiz and the most effective part of the is when you're able to apply what you've learned from the sages to actual life experience of difficulty. Dealing with difficulty in itself is not going to increase your because if a person does not know that exists that you have to have faith in Hashem that you have to trust in Hashem then they could just simply suffer throughout their entire life from test to test and not even realize what's the point to learn from the books and not apply it to your life journey and the difficulties is like simply it's like buying paint but never actually using it to paint the house. you've wasted your efforts. You've wasted your resources. So the ultimate way to grow your is to actually apply what you've learned. Apply what you've learned to your life. You've learned from the books. You've learned from the lectures. Now there's a life experience. You thought you bought a house. You thought that the house was perfect. You find out after you've closed the transaction that it's not as perfect as you thought. the seller lied to you. Or perhaps there was something you didn't ask about and you found out too late. You bought a car. It seems to be a lemon, but it's not really a lemon according to the law. You married somebody, but on the date, they looked like Mr. Wonderful. In reality, they seem like they're one of the children of the Satan. What do you do? These are difficult tests. without a person is simply going to suffer to no end. So therefore the says trust in Hashem at all times. Then after that he says banish hatred and jealousy from your heart. This is another constant obligation. Why? Because the natural instinct of a person without connection, a constant connection to Hashem is to be jealous in their heart. You just bought a house. You're happy about it. It's nice threebedroom house. You just spent your life savings on it. You're so excited. Then your friend tells you, "Hey, you here? I bought the house." "Oh, you, too?" "Yeah." "Yeah, yeah, I bought a house, too." "All right. You want to show my I'll show you mine?" "YEAH, YEAH, SURE. I'LL COME see yours." And you're excited to show them your house first. But you know what? Let me see his first. You know, give him some respect. He's a nice friend. Gives me more time to fix mine up, to show off. You get in the car, you go to your friend's house, you're following him, then you get into this gated community, and you realize it's not even a gated community. It's just a gated house that has an enormous field. You might as well see deers, lions, and dinosaurs there. It's so big. Like, this is all his. You're confused. How could one person have all of this? You're regretting the day that you actually said yes to come see his house and then you see this giant mansion at the end of the road making your house look like a baby house. Literally his side house that he gives to his cleaning lady is bigger than your house. You don't want to know how much he paid for it. You don't even want to be there. But as soon as you get to the front area where there's at least five or six million dollars worth of cars, he tells you, "Come on, let's go in." And you see these double doors look like they belong in a beta mikdash. You go inside, it's almost like light of heaven is shining inside this house. The chandelier probably cost more than a down payment for your house. You see that there is literally stairs coming from both sides like it's a movie. You're waiting for angels to come from the air. You're not sure. Then from the corner of your eye, you see that there's a pool inside the house, but it's covered by a glass floor that he could just press a button and open it all up. You're not even sure how could such a thing come to real life. You thought this is just in the movies. And he takes you with a smile on his face. Yeah. This over here, this room, this is the wine room. What? Since when do you make wine? No, I don't make wine. But we have wine. So there's a room for it. You look at this room. This room is bigger than your living room. Oh, let me take you to, you know, my kitchen. You walk into this giant place, there's marble coming out of the ceiling. You're not even sure the celebrities have a house like this. You look at the refrigerator, it looks like a mirror. The whole thing is touchscreen. You're waiting for the for the refrigerator to talk to you, maybe make you a coffee without even asking. There's all types of people all over the house. It's like all of these live with you. No, no, they just work here. This guy has servants. Is my friend a king? Is he royalty? And I didn't know. And you go through the house from room to room or from literally it seems like from empire to empire. You can't wait for it to end. And the thought that you actually have to show him your house becomes your nightmare. Why? You're embarrassed of what you have. Moments ago, you were excited. Now you're too busy counting how many light switches he has. How could it all fit in one house? How big is this place? When does it end? Do I need a car to go through this house? At least a golf cart. And then you notice on the side there is one. You're not even sure where it begins and where it ends. But then the worst question comes up. So what do you think? You like it? You wish that he bit his tongue while he spoke to you. Why? Because your jealousy is eating your heart. How did this thief get this? How did this ganav get this? HOW DID THIS RASHA GET THIS? All of these evil thoughts are cooking your heart. Why? Why does he have it and I don't? I work. How does he have it? Ah, maybe his rich father got it. Maybe this. You try to discredit him. You try to kill the dream. Why? Just doesn't make sense that he has it and I don't. This type of jealousy lives in people's heart. every single day, whether it's somebody's house or it's somebody's watch or it's somebody's car or it's somebody's wife. Believe it or not, it's even when people look at other people's kids. If a person has jealousy parked in his heart, it's applicable to everything. And jealousy leads to hatred. It leads to hatred. And the person won't even realize that it's jealousy that's causing him to hate his fellow Jew. It's jealousy 100%. But he won't even realize it. Why? Because he thinks he's righteous. There's one time this uh place that one of my students sent. I'll put some uh of our uh books and aar posters and all types of things and uh people love them. People will take them the best price in the world. It's free. It's good stuff. It's good quality. It's important and ex, you know, amazing information. But then he noticed that there's one thing that constantly disappears but overnight and it doesn't make sense. What is it? The AI Rabbi cards. The AI Rabbi cards. Usually they come in a little plastic container. There's 38 cards in there made out of uh uh PCP. It's a type of plastic, so it's not like paper won't get ruined in uh in in rain or anything like that. Cost a lot of money, but we put a lot of effort into everything. We want to make sure that it's good quality. And we put this little plastic container has 38 cards is one side has the a rabbi, the other side has the tikunit. Each one is a different QR code and you put it on a counter in a I don't know kosher market, synagogue or you know wherever you know people gather and people like it and my student noticed that this thing is usually one of those things that you know stays on the counter for a while before people take all of it. The books you put them there sometimes they're gone within 24 hours. Thear stays there for a little while, but usually it's gone pretty fast. But these cards, they stay for a little while, but he noticed this thing is gone in 24 hours. That's strange. All right, let's fill it up. Let's put another one. He puts it there. He comes back to the place the next day. It's gone again. I don't understand. It's just gone. Not even the piece of plastic is left. the little container and he asked somebody, "No, you know," and then he asked the rabbi there, "Do you know uh where uh the Kirb stuff is?" Well, which one? Which one? You know the uh those cards? Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I don't know where they are, but you should know. It's not really uh what? Well, you know, if he was publicizing Torah, that's good. But he's just publicizing himself. Now, you can't help yourself but laugh because the rabbi or anything else that we do, it's publicizing Torah. Now, when we brought books, the rabbi didn't care. Brought a posters, the rabbi didn't care. But the moment we put something that people will see me speak or we'll use an application that people will ask questions that will lead them to watch more of my lectures. All of a sudden I'm I'm publicizing myself and I'm not publicizing Torah. What do you want me to publicize? You you want me to publicize Coca-Cola? [snorts] What do you want me to publicize? Everybody publicizes themselves. That's the point of that's what publicity is. But what was eating him is that in his mind it made sense that if it's a anonymous, nobody knows, then it's good. If it's him, then it's good. But if it says somebody else's name or it's somebody else's, if they see a face, no, then it must not be good. Then it's not. What is that? That's called jealousy. That's called jealousy. And unfortunately, There are people that will have jealousy eating up their heart to pieces their whole life and they will not even realize that it's jealousy that's killing them. And therefore the says this is an obligation to inspect your heart at all times in order for you to banish the hatred and the jealousy from your heart. Because if you've inspected it once and you didn't find, inspect again. As the says, if you inspect in the Torah after toil and you found, I believe you. But if you inspect it in the Torah and you say you didn't find, I don't believe you. Why? Everything is in a Torah. Which means that if you said you didn't find, that means you didn't look. That means you didn't look. And the same concept goes with the heart. A person that will constantly inspect their heart will find that there are certain things they need to remove from their heart because they're literally spiritual poison. They're jealous that other people have something they don't, look a certain way, uh, you know, just for different reasons. Banish the hatred and the jealousy from your heart. Furthermore, says the another aspect of inspecting your heart is to abstain from materialistic excesses which distract us from serving God. What are these materialistic excesses? Of course, everyone needs a house. Everyone needs a car. You need a form of uh type of uh way to uh commute from place to place, go to work, do the things you need to do. Everybody needs food. Everybody needs clothing. These are all necessities. So what's the difference between these necessities and materialism? It's not the cost. And the proof that it's not the cost is that the Talmud I believe it's in Shabbat but I may be in error has a story of Rebadosh coming up to one of the bahim who he knows his father and he says to him tell your father to dress you appropriately. What does he mean? He knows that this young man's father is very wealthy, but the young man is dressed like everybody else. Says this is no good. You come from a wealthy family. You need to look wealthy. You need to look wealthy. You need to have expensive clothes. Why? Because people need to know WHO TO ASK FROM. Don't look like a poor man if you are a wealthy person. And Rebadosh rebuked them. Which from there we understand THAT THE COST DOES NOT make something materialistic. If you're a multi-billionaire and you're wearing a million dollar watch, it's not a big deal. Why? You're a billionaire for you. It's a rounding error. It's the same thing as buying a $10 watch. But if your net worth is $100,000 and all of it is on your hand or all of it is in your car, there's something wrong with you. You're a materialistic person. What's the difference? The difference between materialistic and the basic resources that everyone needs, everyone needs these things. is when someone makes something part of their purpose in life. Makes something materialistic their purpose in life. Makes their materialism define who they are. Makes materialism the priority in their life. Makes materialism something that is all they think about. All they think about is another watch, another ring, another ticket to some game, another car. They show off the cost of all different things. And says one of the downsides of this [snorts] is not just that you're wasting your money and time, but rather because all of this materialism in your heart and your mind is going to distract you from serving God. Because if you're thinking about how could I beat my competitor by having a nicer, more expensive watch, how could I beat my competitor with having a nicer, bigger house, how could I beat my competitor with this or that? Then you're spending all of your energy, chasing materialism instead of getting closer to Hashem. We are bound by all of these at the at all times, says the and in all places and at all hours and at every minute and under all circumstances as long as we have a mind and soul. Here the not only has told us that there's an obligation to inspect our heart, not only has told us that the duties of the heart are Torah obligation, a written Torah, oral Torah, a rational Tua, but has told us that this is an absolute necessity, an obligation at all times, at all hours. Why? So long as you're thinking about Hashem, you have the ability to serve him. The moment the thought of Hashem is not in your mind, that means you're serving something else. Now, this may not seem like that extreme, but perhaps the story from just the last couple of hundred years from the times of Eagle will put things in perspective. Ka was known as the not only the g that if you were able to understand his question it was already considered that you were a time of pim everyone is having a good time and they're at the bet midash and now Eagle says, you know, the have told us that yes, no problem. You could drink a little bit of wine. No one has ever told you that there's a permission to get drunk and fall over your face or anything like that. But needless to say, you could drink a little bit of wine. There's no problem. But the goal of it is to what the says when wine enters the secrets come out. Meaning secrets of Torah. This is an aspicious time to speak words of Torah. So everyone of the students share a but this was the ka not everyone was so this one said this this one said that and then there was one guy that was an amates didn't know much he said rabbi sorry I don't have anything to say goes no no today everybody says something but I don't know much say whatever you And the poor guy says he or Israel, Hashem is our God. Hashem is one. Your is better than everybody else's. How so? He says, "On everybody else's Torah insight, I have questions about it that perhaps maybe contradict it, maybe will put an addition to it. It's incomplete." But yours, I have no questions. I have no doubts. yours saying that God purs the God of Israel. Amazing. Then as the rabbi was speaking, a guy that should have bit his tongue decides TO SPEAK TOO. RABBI, I HAVE SOMETHING. I HAVE a something that questions. Who was it? It was the local butcher. Rabbi says, "You have a question. You are you have a doubt about his?" Yeah, I have a doubt. He says, "If you have a doubt, you're fired from being the local butcher." What? What? What? Wh Why? If you have a doubt about the God of Israel being one, being the only, then you're a kofair. You're a heretic. you certainly cannot be a butcher of kosher food and he fired him on pulin. The next day the butcher comes with a couple of people asking for the rabbi to forgive him. Rabbi, I'm sorry. Listen, I was drunk. And eagle says to him, so what? You were drunk. Just because you become drunk, you become a heretic. You're fired. You cannot be the butcher. go and maybe raise some cows, sheep, be a shepherd, butcher, you cannot be, we cannot trust someone that has questions about God like that. So we see here that what seems to the average person as this is not a big deal. We see that the the ones that have toiled over the Torah, that have dedicated their life to Torah, that knew more about the significance of the and the the reward and the punishment. The ones that knew the most understood that it's a much bigger deal than people think. It's a much bigger deal. You may think it's just flipping a coin. It's not a big deal. You don't realize that that flipping of a coin is ruining your blessing. Doesn't look like it ruined your blessing because you won. Give it time. You'll see the blessings disappear. At some point or another, the tides return and that's when you see who has clothes on. The then continues and gives us an example. What is this? constant need and obligation to delve into your heart. What is it like? What could I compare it to? And he says, compare it to a servant who is ordered by his master to attend two duties. He has two jobs. One in the house and the other one in the field. In the field, the servants's responsibility was to work on the soil, to tend to it at set times, at set hours, and at regular intervals. Other than those times, though, or if something prevented him from working outside, and he was free from any duty to work in the field, he had to go work in the house. Meaning he was never free of his duties from inside the house so long as he was serving his master. Unless he was prevented or impeded by some external force. When there was nothing impeding him, he was always on duty either outside of the house or inside the house. But the priority is inside the house. The same is true with the duties of the heart. There is nothing that might excuse us from them. And the interference can only come from the love of worldly things and from the ignorance of the creator. As the prophet Isaiah says in chapter 5:12, they have liar and harp timber and flute and wine at their feasts and they do not notice God's works. They do not see his handiwork. In so many words, the is telling us the guy that's working the servant, he always he's a servant and therefore he's always on duty. to work to fuel to do the things that are on the outside is comparable to let's say the exterior the praying going to shul the giving taka all of the things that you do that have specific times that you have to do them sukkot when to build a suka even shabbat it's once a Yip went to fast, went to eat. It's actually to eat the day before Yamipu. These have specific times. But when you're not busy with those obligations because it's not Yonkipu and it's not Shabbat and it's not a time to pray, know that your obligation is to serve in the house, meaning in your heart at all times. So long as you want to consider yourself a servant of the master, the ponovich had to live with such beton that every month required miracles to come up with the money to pay for all of his obligations to the to the yeshiva. And every month he'd start from zero. But before the month was over, the money would come in one way or another and he would pay. One day there was a wealthy person, wealthy Jew that came to the rabbi, felt generous and said, "Rav, how much are your obligations every month?" And he tells him, says, "Okay, Rabbi, I want to give you six months worth of money so the rabbi doesn't have to worry about the next six months. Of course, this sounds like a wonderful thing. Don't have to worry about raising money. Don't have to worry about how to pay. The average person would celebrate, give the guy a bunch of blessings. But Ponovich says, "No, no, thank you. One month is enough. I want to give more. I only want one month. Why? He says, although you're doing a mitzvah, it's good. But if I take six months worth of money, you will ruin my bet in Hashem. You will ruin my trust in Hashem. The fact that each month I start from zero forces me to constantly have that I know that will pay for it. But if you give me money for six months ahead of time, this could hurt that closeness do I have to hashem. Such levels of we could only dream. But the point is ra this is what made the rabi ponovich the rai ponovich. It wasn't because he came from ponovich. Many people came from ponovich and they were rabbis. Many people came from different places. But we everybody knows who the rai ponovich was. Why the bet that he had was unlike anything else. Another great example of what closeness to Hashem looks like is there was a guy named Ravosheard. Now Moshe Pardo wasn't really a rabbi that would teach. He was a merchant. But he spent his entire life gathering money to build more and more yeshivot help more publicize Torah and he was very very beloved by the entire Torah community and heard that this was on his deathbed was dying shalom was already So he told who was one of the go visit go sit with him if I was younger I would go but since I can't you goani went he got there and he sees Mosha Po laying in head and he says to him, "I feel like I'm close to leaving this world very soon. What should I do?" He says, "Let's do vidi." They do the vidi says, "Okay, I still have more time. What should I do?" says, "Think about your love of Hashem." Ah, Hashem, I love him so much. So much. I love him so much. And he passed away and fulfilled what the verse says. He completed his life not only of serving Hashem but showing clearly how much he loved Hashem which was the fuel that brought him to do all of what he did the Torah empire that he built and gave him the merit the to complete his life by saying the statement I love Hashem. People can say they love Hashem all they want, but only knows who really is lover is and who's not. The is trying to get us closer and closer to that point each and every single page, each and every single sentence. It's not something you can buy in a store and it's not something you could simply acquire by reading a book. It's something that requires a person to delve into their heart on a constant basis. Anytime they're not occupied with a different obligation that's outside of the house, we are obligated to inspect our heart which is inside inside our house. This too will help us get closer and closer to so we're able to serve him better to feel more of what Hashem is in our hearts and to be able to see to see everything that he does for us each in our own levels in our day-to-day lives. Thank you very much for learning with me. We'll learn again later this week. Anyone that wants to support can donate on bzashem.org. Anyone that wants to do the tikunim for tikunit. There's also a campaign for that. It's tikkunabit.live. You could donate over there. And this helps us with all of the extra marketing that we're doing for the teachings of tikunit because this is something that is necessary for all. And I give you guys a little understanding of the significance of tikunit. Tikunit. When a person wants to elevate themselves and do chuva, they need to also try to do their best to fix the past. Now, some people would say, well, listen, you know, if every tikun is, you know, 84 fast, 82 fast, I need to be a billionaire just to fix it. Don't think like that. Hashem is not going to obligate a person to do something they can't do. He's only going to obligate a person to do something they can do. What can you do? A person say, well, I could only afford to do one tikun every month, one tun every week. So, do that. But how could that make a difference if I have a million to do because of so many sins I've made in the past? I'll explain. There was once a king that was leaving the country for on a trip and he had three very expensive bottles of wine. So he gave three servants each a bottle of wine to keep him. He says, "Listen, I expect to have this bottle back when I come home. This is a bottle that is hundreds of years old, very expensive, and I need you to protect it for me." Okay. He leaves the town. The first servant sees the bottle, smells [snorts] it, he can't take it. He opens the bottle. Let me take a little sip. Takes a sip. Another sip. And within a few moments, the whole bottle is gone. It's empty. Said, "Listen, you only live once." That's his mentality. The second guy sees the bottle, says, "You know what? Not even going to mess with it. I'm going to put it in the shelf. I'm not going to touch it. I don't want to smell it. I don't want to taste it." The third guy gets close to it, smells it. Ah, this is amazing wine. Let me taste a little bit. He opens it up, takes a little taste, and he thinks that he's tasting the special waters of Miriam, the bear Miriam that traveled with Amis in the desert. It could taste like anything. Oh, so good. Takes another sip and another sip. But before it gets too late, HE REALIZED HE'S DOWN TO HALF THE BOTTLE. NO, NO, I GOT TO stop myself. I got to stop. He shuts the bottle and he puts it away. The king comes back. He calls his three servants. No, give me my wine. The first servant gives him an empty bottle of wine. Huh? How dare you? Kills the guy. Second guy comes. Here you go, your highness. Untouched. Ah, you are a good servant. Give him a thousand gold coins. Gets a thousand gold coins. He's happy. He did his job. The third guy comes and he has half a battle in his hand. He goes, "You, I'm very, very sorry. I couldn't help myself, but I'm sorry. there's only half the battle left. And he gives him the battle with his eyes down. And he's doesn't know how quickly the sword's going to come on his neck before he dies. And to his surprise, the king says to him, "Wow, very impressive. GIVE HIM 5,000 gold coins." 5,000 gold coins. He's surprised. But who is even more surprised? The guy THAT GAVE THE FULL BOTTLE. He said, "Your highness, I'm sorry to ask, but I gave you the whole bottle, but I only got a thousand gold coins. He gave you half the bottle, and he's getting five 5,000 gold coins." The king says to him, "You don't understand because you never tasted the wine. You never tasted the wine and therefore THERE WAS NO TEST FOR YOU. There was no test for you. And therefore, you don't understand the significance of him only drinking half the wine. You don't understand the significance of it. But I know how that wine tastes. And if he was able to shut himself from drinking the whole wine after he already tasted it, that's a big deal. That's a very big deal. And I'm very impressed with it. And that's why he gets 5,000. And therefore, the says are at a level that's higher than people that have never sinned. Because the bala although he made sins, he made mistakes. The fact that you are returning after you've tasted the sin makes you priceless. Makes you priceless and even higher than someone that has never sinned before because he never tasted it. So he doesn't know what it what the test is like. It's good, but it's not like you that actually did chuva after tasting the sin. That's what the tikunim do. If a person does chuva and he wants to take the extra mez and go further, no matter how much you can do, whether it's one or a thousand or whatever it is, know that knows what's in your heart. And rewards all of those that put their heart to serve a because he knows how big the test is. We'll learn again later this week. >> I'd like to introduce you to your new best friend. We did it. AI Rabbi is here. It's an AI model that is based on kosher Torah [music] sources. 30 different languages that are available to you. So if you want to ask it in Spanish, [music] in Chinese, Portuguese, whatever you want to do, it's available for you. Can you tell me about timestamped to the shield? You press this green button. AI Rabbi on your WhatsApp. [music] >> You'll have the ability to ask questions at will. You'll be providing sources, but most importantly, you'll be able to know the truth and be able to rely on sources.