Shaar HaBitachon Lesson 21 with Rabbi Shais Taub

yeah Oh perfect all right so we are on chapter 4 we're in the middle of chapter 4 and we started speaking about the idea of misappropriated trust meaning to say the fact that we trust entirely in a sham is not a contradiction to the fact that there are certain actions that we have to take and it would be irresponsible were we not to take those actions so we started talking about that and now we're gonna continue we're gonna continue with that let's look inside the text mccain a Niroula Adam Lee Konitz basic honest the betrayer alex is a beta it's also not appropriate that a person should put himself into dangerous situations relying on his trust in in the decree the divine decree in other words he's gonna say he's gonna take this attitude that whatever Hashem decreed is already decreed so if this is supposed to hurt me it'll hurt me if it's not supposed to hurt me it won't hurt me and therefore what old what what will he do look crazy crazy things you shoulda saw me I'm others he will ingest deadly poisons oh yes I can bats million in Wadi the highest rice LaLanne ethic or he will go and fight lions or other wild animals if he doesn't have to by the way I love I love the the I love it or being a bit high as caveat there the leg by touch if he doesn't have to because it's like this is a good Jewish thing like listen you're gonna have to fight lions okay that's but but don't just do it stop no if unless you have to I mean it's we're laughing but unfortunately you know there was a time when you know in the Roman era when Jews were forced to be gladiators and they had to fight lion lions and bears and animals to entertain the crowds you know the story about the the Jew who was recruited to be a gladiator back in Roman times and they put him in the middle of the the ring there in the Coliseum and the lion comes running out to him and this ferocious Lions about to eat the Jew and the Jew bends over and he whispers something in the Lions ear no I turn turns around me he runs off so then later on the the captain of the gladiators comes over and he says to the Jew you know we saw we've seen people who fight the line and were able to survive but you know what did you do the lion was gonna he was ready to eat you and then you whispered something then then he didn't eat you and the Jew said well I I just whispered to him that after dinner there will be speeches so don't fight lions if you don't have to oh she actually asked me by yama i by h de Melissa or don't throw yourself into into the sea or into the fire or anything like that the marsh ain't no other but two of behind you suckin minashi anything it's like a risky thing and you're endangering your life don't do that don't tell me because you'll be talking you can go and do these crazy things who cover his/her no have costed me that in fact Tina has already warned us about this Charlotte says lisa NOS OS hashem alaikum cache in the season the masa do not test hashem your god like you did at masa interesting what does it mean at least according to this way of using the verse is don't do crazy things that endanger yourself even though we know that hashem is running the world he and that animal would possess a man a third mission a devoted you're not gonna get away with this for two reasons they're one of two possibilities oh she almost so one altar one want one scenario is he's gonna die oh she almost for you who have made missus axe may either he's gonna kill get himself killed and help he'll have killed himself because he was being reckless he was being negligent who Nita Al's a kilo heinous who lost him him nailed him and he will be held accountable to the same degree as if he had murdered someone else don't think because it's yourself you're allowed to do whatever you want no you're not your body is a chef's property you're not allowed to destroy it alopecia might say I'll have better how who big sinister-looking bushu say even though yes theologically we all know that if he did something dangerous and he died that was Bashar that was her Shems plan but still who told you to go along with such a crazy plan I well I'm gonna finish the paragraph then I'm gonna come back for a second explain a little bit of the theology here who Kivar he's how new shillelagh hummus shoe mod ambition gilgul yell goal here doesn't mean a reincarnation by the way means a case you're not allowed to kill anybody in any case right you're not allowed to kill anybody pulmonary it says Lacey it's on don't kill it's one of the Ten Commandments we call a show yeah um almost bitten caught a vellum amos interesting the closer the murderer is to the victim yeaaah how I initiated right so the more the punishment are the more culpable the murderer is commission unlike you kill a stranger but you kill your friend I mean they're both reprehensible but it's even more reverent by the way it's interesting that statistically most people are killed by someone they know commercial cause of like it says allarod federal him machinist Ahmed because he pursued his brother with the sword and cut off all pity so it's especially reprehensible obviously all murder is reprehensible but it's especially reprehensible to kill someone who was your friend someone who's your brother well who's closer to you than yourself right autumn caught in a toilets may so the kill yourself is the most most reprehensible so yeah don't do that no it's it's interesting there's a signature my sense about a smallish Malcolm and nickelsburg that when he was the Robin nickelsburg nickelsburg was not a seditious dot the maggot sent him there anyways they wanted to get rid of him at some point and the Shama stood up for him the Shama said no you can't throw him out I'll tell you why he's it's odd that how do you know he's it's a dick so the Shah was a simple year this is I'm simple jewel okay if he's a Tom Woodcock come on out I don't know but I he's he's a he's a tactic and I'll tell you why because at night when I come around guess he's cleaning up or shutting things down or locking things up he says I I come Shmuel cos house and he's always sitting and talking to this very holy looking person and I asked him once who it is he told me it's Elio Navi so you see he sees a Leo and avi every night and then one night I came by and he was with two people the one guy who I heard was a Leo Navi and this other guy who was wearing a crown so I said after they left I said who was the other guy this time he had a different different second guy Montana ally lhasa says well this was Melek Menasha Mahna Mahna Shaban Hazuki oh and he came to me because I'm in the middle of that didn't favor right now not locally but in a nearby town the love of a nearby town asked me to weigh in on an issue they had there was a guy locally ií'd who was going around breaking the slum him you know the religious symbols from the from the the cloister from the the the from the churches he was breaking there with their symbols and obviously a Jew going around doing that that was you know well it was more than frowned upon it was it was they killed him for it I mean it wasn't it's not just vandalism it's you know high crime so he was he was he was killed for doing that anyways they had a local like a charity for widows and orphans widows and orphans fund and the ELMO know of this guy who got executed for breaking the the non-jewish religious symbols the widow came to them to collect money and they said you know because in our regulations we have a rule that somebody who killed himself is not eligible I mean maybe I'm just guessing but maybe they don't want to encourage people who were destitute that they would think god forbid you know sometimes Brentwood breadwinner thinks that God forbid his family will be financially better with without him alive so god forbid god forbid you know so maybe they didn't want to encourage something like that anyway they had regulations that in such a case the the widow couldn't collect so she said but he didn't kill himself they killed him well you know that if you go and you break the crucifix from the church that that's as good as signing your own death warrant of course there you're gonna get yourself killed that way anyway so the Rob from that town had to pass kin whether or not this widow should collect from the fund and he asked up SHM Elka and of SHM Elka was learning and looking it up and trying to formulate an opinion and that night Leo Navi came and he brought with him Melek Menasha with him and Menasha we actually learned how to not show the early earlier lap in pedak giemo of shadow by talking right we spoke about people who who have certain school sim that that they did good compared to the others in their generation so mellow phone asha he he he was who was a wicked king who put up idols and then he renounced the idols but he had to do a tickin for that so he came back in a guild goal as this guy who was breaking the the icons and the the the religious the religious symbols so he said you know this was from heaven something that he had to do they sent them back to do this and please take care of this this Widow anyway so then the shaman told them that and they were impressed they said ok let's not fire him and simcha bottom used to tell this story and he emphasized a whole different point from the story he says the the simcha bonum the big deal of this story was the Shama SH but the shaman saw Ileana you know how many people want gilja leo they want a revelation of the private prophet elijah and this guy had it and didn't even think twice about it he was just impressed that there of had gilja Leo didn't think about the fact that he he had also at any rate this is a long I'm going on a diversion here the point is people who do dangerous things and they know that it's gonna get them killed god forbid so there's a certain responsibility they're not allowed to do that even though yes it's true that a Shem runs the world ok now remember I said I'm gonna go back to the theology of this so let me talk a little bit about the the theology okay how do you understand Sandra better but hey it doesn't explain this because again this is not really a book of philosophy it's a book of Moosa it's a book of ethics it's telling us how to live the proper way it's not even remember in the last chapter when we got into why do bad things happen to good people and we mentioned then that this is not a book of philosophy okay so they're bendable hi is not going to get into this but and I probably shouldn't get into it but because it's sort of like the elephant in the room by the way you know I have a friend he had a birthday and I bought him for his birthday I bought him a present I bought him an elephant and he said to me thank you and I said don't mention it so the elephant in the room you know no one wants to mention the elephant in the room you get the joke right okay so yeah oh don't mention it I told him don't mention it okay so what's the elephant in the room that we don't want to mention if it's true that everything really is by divine decree so then you're telling me don't do irresponsible things that would cause me damage but then how does that work am i causing things to happen that shouldn't happen and if that's possible then the whole idea of the talking seems to be in question so I'll tell you how one way to look at it okay I'll tell you one way to look at it remember that what what was it called that was anugrah max P R meant maybe someone a google it for me but the I think was a Milgram experiment there was there were two different it was a Stanford Prison Experiment there was the Milgram experiment I think that was a Yale and if someone to look it up for me what they did is they wanted to see it was it was I think it was in the 50s or 60s the point is wasn't so long after the atrocities of the Holocaust were becoming known and the big famous thing that everyone said you know the Nazis in maximum they said we were following orders were just following orders okay so they wanted to find out if it's true people just follow orders so what they did is they made this experiment where a guy in a white lab coat it was really an actor it wasn't really a scientist but he would get volunteers to be part of a psychological experiment he didn't they didn't know what the real purpose of the experiment was they thought the experiment was about conditioning or or reinforcement so what basically what they were told to do is you sit in the chair and you can't see the person you're talking to because they're in another room and you hear them with a radio but you ask them questions you know like you know what's the capital of South Dakota and they answer Des Moines no I'm sorry that's wrong now give them a little electric shock okay now you have to push a button and then you would hear over the radio the guy that you're testing he would be like oh okay and then they'd ask him you know another question you know like I'm gonna do make up pretend trivia questions okay it's the thing that I would do but I'm not gonna do it now anyways and then no I'm sorry that's wrong push the buttons and they would do the little button okay so then each time though they'll be like okay turn it up a little bit give them a little more a little bit of bigger shock and the guy would start screaming like wow you know like it hurts and and people would stop the people who were pushing the button they would stop because they felt bad they hear a human being in pain to hear somebody's screaming so they would turn to the guy in the white lab coat holding a clipboard looking very you know official and they would say I think it's hurting him and all they would say to them is it is very important for the purposes of this experiment that you continue that's all they would say they wouldn't explain anything they would just say that line it is very important for the purposes of this experiment that you continue okay and then okay all right fine and they will push the button and they we hear the guys scream and then they would have say they keep turning up the knob and finally there was like a red line that's a danger and finally they would tell turn it up turn it up and they would turn it past the red line that's a danger now give him what you can push the button give him a shock and they would hear terrible screaming agony and and it would turn to the guy and say I can't do this anymore and he would just tell them it is very important for the purposes of this experiment that you continue and finally you know they will push the button and it would be silent and they you know as if they killed the guy god forbid right okay so now afterwards they would obviously tell them you know it's an it's not real don't worry he weren't shocking anybody you didn't kill anybody okay and I forget the number but it was a frightening number of people who would go along with it these were just regular people who were you know volunteers off the street who were picked to you know who volunteered to be part of the experiment regular people and then most of them went along with it and and committed what they believed were atrocities against fellow human beings but what's the point what's my point here well I telling you all this whole thing I'm telling you this because like this imagine if you were part of this experiment and you had just pushed that button until the point where somebody had been screaming in agony and then they became silent and you know how you would feel you just killed somebody because somebody told you well somebody in a white coat told you to do it okay feel like a monster now imagine if they tell you or when they tell you oh by the way it was just an actor it wasn't real okay so first of all obviously you can immediately feel relief nobody was hurt oh thank God nobody was really hurt it wasn't real but here's my question this is the real question whatever guilt you feel whatever however appalled you are at yourself for allowing yourself to go along with this for being complicit in this cruelty does that feeling abate to any degree by being told that it was just an act separated the the relief that nobody was hurt yes that I understand you're immediately relieved nobody was hurt but I'm talking with a different thing you're being appalled at your own lack of conscience the guilt that you are willing to take such orders is that ameliorated to any extent by the fact that find out that it wasn't real and the answer is it shouldn't be because for all you knew at that moment you were doing those things you were hurting somebody or killing them god forbid in such a way so the degree of culpability at least on the level of personal stock taking at least on the level of you know what kind of person am I and what am I made of and what are my real principles and push come to shove what am I willing to do that that hasn't changed by the fact that it wasn't real the only thing to change by the fact that wasn't realist thank God nobody was really hurt but as far as getting a glimpse into your dark ugly side of your nature that's the same exact glimpse and it's the same frightening truth so let's use that as a Marshall okay obviously it's just a crude Marshall that I've constructed for the for the for the sake of making a point but think about it like this that causation and culpability can be two separate things because in this case there was no causation he didn't cause anything to happen because it was all it was all an act and yet there's still the same degree of culpability maybe the word is in culpability but the same degree of being complicit the same degree of you know I'll put it this way there's the teshuva and there's the teak one the thick one is fixing what you broke okay so in this case nothing was broken but teshuva is still required the Shova is what kind of a person am i that i would do such and such a thing what kind of matter what kind of a person am i then I chose such a thing for myself what kind of a person am i that I thought that such a thing was it was an acceptable choice so I still have to do chuhwa even if I didn't actually cause anything to happen or think about it like this imagine somebody who wanted to sin they tried to sin and they failed imagine the murderer who pulled out the gun he pulled the trigger and and the gun jammed now thank God in action the victim wasn't killed okay but as far as again from the point of view of spiritual stocktaking what kind of person am i what have I found out about myself if I pull that trigger even though the guns not loaded I didn't know wasn't loaded or the gun jams I didn't expect it with Jim or somebody pushes me out of the way where I miss or whatever it is none of that is relevant the point is I'm a person who was willing to do that okay so think about it like this let's say something is by shirt let's say something's gonna happen anyway that's the way the script was written I still have free choice and I didn't know how it was gonna end up I didn't know that was the script as far as I know this is not scripted it's improvised and at this moment I chose willingly by my own free choice to go along with the script so even though that was the script I didn't know it was the script I thought I was choosing therefore I am culpable not for what I caused to happen because in some ways I didn't really cause anything because it was gonna happen anyway but I was definitely culpable for choosing it for making that choice they're gonna say now this is getting really confusing because hold on a second what but what if I hadn't chosen it if I hadn't chosen it then it wouldn't have happened but you told me that it's predetermined okay so then for that I made up another another metaphor ever play three-card Monte don't okay or the shell game either way three-card Monte or the shell game it's the same type of thing to scan this is prestidigitation this is sleight of hand what they do is they have these guys they're basically magicians but they don't they don't tell you they're magicians is it's a force that's what they call it in magic a force means getting somebody to do something without them knowing how manipulated they are so what they do is they let you win it first so you see that you know that you know the Queen usually look you see where the Queen is okay fine all right track the car track there oh you see which one and they they make it easy to track it's under this one okay you lift it all you're right you're good at this let's try and get your you're really you're really good at this you want to play for some money and then they'll let you win and let you win some money okay why do you bits about a lot of money because you're so good at this and you know you bet $100 and then they do the sleight of hand where it looks like they're throwing it this way they're really throwing it that way and they ask you to choose no I want to ask you something you shouldn't bet you shouldn't gamble it's not nice but let's say you did let's say you did okay and when your bet you're giving your word okay now they tell you to choose now this guy is a master of sleight of hand you're not gonna beat him he's gonna outwit you you're not gonna outwit him okay this is what he did is 10,000 hours of practice for but at this moment if you're gonna choose and you're gonna say it's this card he lifts at all I'm so sorry it's not that card so do you get to walk away and say I'm not giving I'm not giving you the hundred dollars because you you cheated me what do you mean he cheated you cheat you he outmaneuvered you I didn't cheat you he's better at this than you are you see it if you're playing one-on-one with Michael Jordan and he makes the head fake and then you go this way and then he goes that way and you break your ankle is that cheating or is he just knows how to move in a way that you're not gonna be able to keep up right he knows how to make you move the way he wants you to the way he wants you to move not the way but it's still your your responsibility you still made the choice okay follow what I'm saying here okay imagine you playing three-card Monte and the guy knows how to make you choose exactly what he wants you to choose the fact is though he didn't hold a gun to your head and say choose this as far as you know from your perspective your experience as that of choosing now he's such a master he makes you choose exactly what he wanted you to choose but you were still choosing with free choice which is why if you were foolish enough to play three-card Monte with this guy you would owe him the hundred dollars because you were choosing even though he knows how to manipulate your choice without you feeling it and get you to choose what he wants you to choose so think about it like this the truth is what's gonna happen was already gonna happen and Hashem will get you to choose the thing that was in the script already but that's irrelevant to you that's irrelevant because from your perspective you wouldn't know any of that from your perspective it was choice and remember there are two separate things there's being responsible for causation and there's responsibility for a choice maybe I didn't actually cause something in the sense of I'm not God I don't write the script of reality however there is definitely responsibility in terms of choice I was willing to do this thing I went along with it or in in the in the idiom of our sages McGowan scores early days that guy McGowan Chloe valued a high if good things happen through good people and not nice things happen through not nice people so when something good happens through us yeah maybe it was best shared that was going to happen it was be shared but the fact that I was that Hashem knew he could count on me for that good thing to happen through me that means there's a certain schools that I have that's why that's why it's called Zack I also close in addition to meaning a merit it means zero pure purity or refinement which means you're more transparent refined means that you're not opaque or transparent you're allowing you're allowing the thing to flow through you okay unobstructed so the point is like this Hashem is orchestrating everything everything is according to his plan all right but we don't know what his plan is I mean we only know his print plan retro actively a second after it happens then we know that must have been Bashar how do I know because that's what happened so it had them in Bashar but the second before it happens or even the second while it's happening we don't know okay and from so from our perspective our choice is real choice and we have to be accountable for our choice so maybe a person can never make himself died before his time okay maybe theologically speaking philosophically speaking that's an impossibility a person cannot make himself die a second before his allotted time however a person can be complicit with willfully making a choice to perform a behavior that upholds that narrative and even if that was Bashar his willingness to be complicit to go along with it and to make that choice is something that he's culpable for I know this is very very very very very very complex and if I confused you more than I give you clarity then forget everything I said but if it helps right the main point is and we're gonna have to wrap it up here for tonight the main the main point is that our shams in control and at the very same time we are accountable to make good choices safe choices responsible choices let's read a little bit further and wrap up the cane Misha Hema says hats may your unshakable Lee Suffolk so to somebody who kills himself that's a you know the worst thing meet Nash a marshal a berserk average it's Evo a Dane of leash mere mocking this man you do it's like a servant who the master told him to guard a certain place for a certain amount of time he's here I shall a you parted me man oh actually obviously a Hadean of a love and don't leave don't abandon your post until your replacement comes you know like the changing of the guard the cave-in shrew shove a shiv shush Leela ye but he saw that his replacement was not coming or was delayed needed minimal Kincaid MBA so he abandoned his post before he was supposed to for parts of Oliver Dana of the Anisha English cuddle so his master punishes him Cana may miss Assad's may so to somebody who takes his own life je t'aime Aveda so lo keem el hamra sabic on said the secona some novice he's abandoning hashem service and rebelling against him by exposing himself to to lethal danger the alkane automates Shmuel oliver sha'lame me that's why Shmuel Hanavi who was he was a spiritual giant and yet when hashem sent him on a mission that he felt was dangerous to go anointed of emotion while shah was still king which would be high treason he said a hail it fish amish all origami how can i go and shovel here he'll kill me Valene a shovel a little sawed him to be tiny elokim when when she went you asked that question that wasn't considered a lack of trust in a sham that's a responsible question a high silver Melek my room a sham a turkey is it easily say busy we should back us actually hm gave him a favourable response that showed that his prudence was was commendable the MLA told him Adler's bucket iike fiood a father I'm a police backlash embassy he gave him a an alibi says take a heifer with you and say I've come to sacrifice to God showed her Indian and the whole rest of the story the ELA why is that kids in-betweener if rule would have been exhibiting a lack of trust by asking the question I said truly I love Hashem would have answered him very differently would have told him something like on the orbit staff here and the hot Steve on the Erica he would have said I put the death I bring life I wounded I will heal what do you what are you worried about it's all in my hands I sure would have told him something like that oh yeah Dame alais or something similar cami Sharmila mashaallah Michelle indeed like Hashem told Misha a Shammar lie at the time when he told him he had packed five Russian a night he says hold on I can't speak I have a speech impediment and so much I'm told them that's not an excuse me psalm pearl or them who gives a person a mouth to speak and me awesome I let my head i shy the cafe even who's the one who makes somebody dumb or deaf or seeing or blind by the way what's the difference there why did Hashem how small I you have a good point here let me give you a cover and he told my hey what are you talking about I'm the one who makes people speak if I want you to speak you'll be able to speak you know the difference is the past lifetime explains because my show was worried about his ability to do something meaning do I have the ability to do it Hashem says I give abilities don't worry I'll give you the ability school on the other hand was told differently wasn't questioning do I am the ability to do it he was worried about the consequences of doing it the shawl would come kill him so for that Hashem says you're right you know in this world you got a you know take precautions okay the inch will in time to cause a lie hey Kelly Kunis we see but Panama see this as a Cana now Shmuel with his perfect piety did not take the liberty of exposing himself even to a slight risk of danger alopecia her uniqueness bub omitsu Sebelius Buttershaw um er male karna shaman valet cache laka a Yishai base allows me even though he was doing ash liquors from a Shemesh I'm told and fill your horn with oil and I'm sending you to to Yishai bit of base laughing nevertheless it was okay that he had concerns Kaushik and she is a mcgoon as Missoula Senate bill team it's a Sebelius ala how much more so if somebody doesn't even have the protection of Ashley Mitzvah and he does something reckless that's you know unacceptable okay so that's the first reason the first reason why you shouldn't do reckless things okay cuz you can get yourself killed god forbid okay now what's the second reason cliffhanger for that you have to come back tomorrow night okay all right