The Downside of Praising The Rich and Famous | WAR OF AMALEK (23)

We're back here on a Tuesday night war of series. Uh tonight Shu is going to be for the for and all of and all the righteous Noah that continue to support and help and learn with us. Oh hashem, those that want to donate could donate on bzadashem.org. uh and uh you could get uh yourself some more merits in your spiritual account that will continue growing oh hashem. So, uh there's a lot to say, there's a lot to do, but uh just as a one uh public service announcement, of course, we all have the uh pesak coming. Passover is coming in just a couple of weeks. Uh this year it's a uh pes is going to start on Shabbat. There's a whole sher that we did about that are relevant to that and what happens when you eat on Friday night and on Saturday morning and then what you can't eat in the afternoon. All those different details we did in Ashure in past years. It'll be reposted and republished uh soon. Uh so you could have it but it's already on the channel. Uh the the and then of course the biggest uh thing that u many people uh do not realize as the Rambam is that one of the critical parts of the holiday any holiday but especially uh Pesak is the matanote of Yim to uh to help the poor and uh we have already committed uh to uh thousands and thousands of people uh and we've already sending money and you know obviously working on uh getting more. Uh but we've already made the commitment just like we always do to uh simply make the commitments and uh trust that Hashem is going to send us the righteous partners that want to help us. Uh we have a uh huge campaign that's about to be launched uh pes campaign like we do every year. This year we have uh estimate about 12,000 people that are going to uh get food or money uh from the organization uh in Israel. But in also in addition to uh to that and to help our donors more than anything else get even more merits than just giving money for to help feed poor people. We also need Torah merits. We have two sumshas events uh that are going to be taking place before PES. Uh I believe the first one is going to be next week and the second one is going to be I think maybe a day or two later. One is ina and the other one is in Jerusalem. We'll have 800 of learning the entire Talmud bi in a single day and those donors that donate to the campaign. Uh obviously we'll have a uh a merit especially those that want to sponsor the shas. Uh you'll have an opportunity to sponsor the shas. You'll have an opportunity to feed you know to donate to feed the poor. You'll have an opportunity to do both. That should be published in the next 24 hours. It's a huge campaign. It's a huge commitment bigger than what we've ever done before. uh and uh each person will uh you know use all of their strength and abilities then and gifts that Hashem gave them to help us uh do what's necessary. Uh and uh there's a lot of people that are in need. We uh verify each and every single person. Uh that's one of the things that a lot of people have been asking me about uh in the uh recent uh weeks about donations. people are coming from Israel asking for money for different causes whether it's yeshiva or a sick person or so on and they're asking me whether they should donate or not and I've told them that uh you know many times there are issues with people that are coming to donate that you may not be aware of and you wouldn't donate if you knew those issues whether it's uh the fact that the cause is not exactly uh directly related to uh to the recipient meaning the person that's collecting uh is not the person that's actually you know supposed to get the money. Uh or it's the fact that the driver or the person that's taken these people from place to place is taking 40 to 60% of the money uh that you donate. So if you donate $100, uh you're lucky if half of it gets to the cause or all types of other things. And one of the things that we do differently in our organization uh is that we have a whole process that our team our blessed team our precious team in Israel uh our entire team is blessed and and precious but the one in Israel that's uh handles this particular thing they literally verify each and every single person that signs up to receive uh money or food from us. Uh they show us uh financial statements. They answer questions. We want to make sure that the people that say that they're in need actually need the money. Uh and uh unfortunately there's a lot of horrible stories of, you know, widows, orphans, people that are victims of different things that come to us and we try to do our best to help as many as possible. we've already committed uh to uh to these uh families which like I said it's estimated to be somewhere around 12,000 people uh if Hashem allows uh and uh opens up your hearts then uh certainly would be happy to do even more like we have in the past. many of the campaigns that we have uh we uh we end up giving a lot more money than what we end up raising but Hashem you know fixes it at some point of the year in some way or some other uh thing. So that's that's the thing if anyone wants to donate to people that are verified that are actually in need and also in addition to that get the blessing of limu learning to complete shs in a single day two different events then you could uh donate on that campaign uh and that should be published byem within the next 24 hours or so uh if not even uh less. So with that uh with that being said, Bo Hashem, Bo Hashem, we uh got the strength to to do the sh today. As you know, the the health issues of uh Bo Hashem have made it a little bit more difficult to be consistent with the shim. So we thank Hashem even extra for uh for having the ability to do a shu or any opportunity that we have. Uh even if they're not necessarily consistent, we do whatever we can and we fill in the blanks whenever we're given the opportunity. And of course there's no no time like today where uh there's new developments. There's new developments. People are asking questions. People are bringing different uh issues that are happening in the Jewish world. And uh just like uh we've said time and time again, the words of that he's in essence saying the words to the king, this is the plan uh are like words of prophecy because every single time we do a sh uh it's uh literally talking about the matters that we're dealing with today. And in the 19th section of this uh of this countress that we're up to is in essence telling us something that we're all aware of. We're all uh have the uh inner battles and sometimes outer battles with. Everybody is dealing with it. Everyone is uh aware of it. Even the peoples that are pushing it and and and causing it are aware of it. And that's in essence the issue with complimenting rich and famous people. Uh and they don't all necessarily always have to be rich and they don't necessarily always have to be uh uh u famous but in so many words complimenting people that are in power. Uh and the problem with that why because everyone has heard this where they say you know everyone knows this guy is wicked yet they compliment him because of his money or because of his donations or because of his influence. Perhaps they reason. Again, I'm not saying this is the right thing to do. They reason. Perhaps we have to see the good in people. This is the logic that uh you hear so often where uh you hear that the uh whether it be the uh rabbi that uh is trying to uh get one of the uh community members or one of the rich people uh to donate or to get them closer into the community in order to donate. or it's somebody that's complimenting some other uh figure uh online or in media or in face-toface meetings. All types of uh these events that people have where uh they invite all types of people uh that are not exactly the most righteous certainly not according to the Torah. But yet when they you know invite them when they talk about them when they talk in front of them especially they compliment them as if Moshe Rabenu just came. Uh, oh, this is the what a sadik. What a big heart. What a precious. Hashem loves him. Ta, you know, all the different things. We thank him. We appreciate him. We value him. This is a friend. This is a partner. You know, all those different words. And of course, it doesn't matter what language. It's the same exact nonsense. And everyone in the community that does not cringe when they hear these compliments certainly is part of the problem. But that doesn't mean that those that are not cring that are cringing are not part of the problem because when you hear these things certainly this you know should arouse some holy zealousness. I don't mean you have to get up and start speaking out and start hitting people or start uh yelling at people. A lot of people don't understand what zealous actually means. So they just think that expressing their anger against anyone that doesn't agree with them even if what they believe in is the truth. But they express anger and insults, they think that that's zealousness. That's not zealousness. That's just you giving yourself an excuse to be angry. But the point being is is that you know when you hear that wicked people are complimented and uh you don't cringe you don't you're not bothered by it then it means that there is a certain lacking within you a certain disconnect between you and the truth you and uh and needless to say even the ones that do cringe many times rationalize say well listen the rabbi is a good rabbi he's a sadik he's if he's given this guy, even though this guy is a even though if he's given him a compliment and surely he knows what he's doing. Maybe this is what's going to promote peace. Perhaps this is what's going to stop anti-semitism. Perhaps unity. Perhaps we should accept people the way they are. And you know, everyone can choose what they want and and God understands. And you know, everybody rationalizes these things. And these inner battles that some people have uh you know don't necessarily have any rationalizing within them. In fact, it's quite the opposite. They get disgusted. But those are few and far in between. Now, what is the actual Torah think about it? Not what does your friend think about it or what you think about it or what your local rabbi thinks about it, but what does the actual Torah think about it? Well, of course, where else are we going to go other than Vasim's holy words along with his master the will shed some light in this series of war of the war that we are in already whether we realize it or not and let us know just what's allowed what's forbidden what's outright dangerous and will even have the opportunity to bring you up to date with some recent developments about warnings we have given you some years ago about some famous and rich Jewish people that perhaps were on the dangerous list. says he says 35 years ago from his time which means it's well over a hundred years ago from today in a at the time where there was a uh the city of Radon apparently maybe it's was burned down that The then wrote a letter to help the nim to help those those victims that were victims of the fire. The entire city was uh burned down to rebuild it. It's not just a matter of uh going to the woods, getting some wood, and building houses. You need help. You need assistance. Surely those people that uh have been victims to it whether it's a what's happened what happened in Los Angeles in recent uh uh months or in uh hurricane uh you know victims you know of course you need a lot of help uh not just uh you know your own uh bank account and wherewithal is enough you need help. So the saw that the uh part of this city, the Jewish community obviously uh got uh hurt drastically and he wanted to help them and therefore he had to write a letter. He had to write a letter to what the calls a redactor, a person that was in essence in charge to deliver this these words to the appropriate powers at B uh to the whether it be the mayor, the presidents, the kings, whoever it was. But he had to write this letter to some middle person that wasn't exactly a righteous person. In fact, quite the opposite. He was a wicked person. He was not a person that was loyal to Hashem. He was not a person that uh has any kindness whatsoever towards the Torah. But nonetheless, he's put in a position of power like it's common today. And uh he has the power to influence whether it's rebuilding the city or bringing funding or whatever it is. And we live in a world, this is still alma the shik, this is still the world of lies where a world that's comprised of many wicked people that are in power. And we have to work around it. We have to work with it. We have to know uh how to deal with it. And wanted to help and therefore he knew he had to write a letter to this person that's in power, this redactor. And the problem that he had was that it's well known that at the beginning of a letter that you're going to write especially to a powerful person you have to bring some words of honor of respect to this person. You can't start a letter saying hey you Mr. Mayor, listen. You got to you have to obviously give some words. Even calling somebody a mister is a show of respect or sir. Show of respect. But this was a problem. Why is it a problem? because knew that he did. This is not exactly an ideal situation to be in to give a compliment or any word of honor to a wicked person. And therefore says He was the was fighting within him within himself. How can I make sure to not add a single word a single a single word of honor that is not necessary. And therefore he sat on this of how to begin the letter for several days is saying mister too much is saying honorable too much is saying shalom too much. Which word of honor is the least significant? Is the least amount of honor but not dishonorable? Because again, if you don't pay this guy some level of respect, he's not even going to look at the letter. You can't start it with just uh hey Steve. You have to use something, say something that shows some level of respect. But at the same token, this is a wicked person. So we have to minimize the honor as much as possible. And to do this, this I'm sure none of us truly understand his his holiness, his greatness, his wisdom surpasses our comprehension. This is the same that wrote the when they asked him, "How do you ask certain things with such stringencies and others with leniencies with such confidence?" told him, "Every I study 36 times with all of the commentaries of the sages that spoke about before I pass in before I pass in the final opinion." Meaning that it's not just, "Oh, I think yes, I think no. People like it, people don't like it." No, no. I read the entire world of that ala and all of the great sages that wrote about it that spoke about it everything that's written about it 36 different times not enough to read to write to read it once or twice or 10 times but 36 times many times you know uh people uh you know are are surprised that uh you tell them listen you finished the book okay so read it again what do you mean I I read it already don't I have to go to something else. Well, sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depending if you completed the entire sh start again. Wait, but I finished it already. No, no, Khabibi, you didn't finish anything. You just read the sh the first time. There is no finishing in Tua. That's why no matter how many years you've studied, you still are always going to be considered a Talid student, constantly reading. If you're not prepared to work hard, you will never achieve anything good in life. Nothing of value. You will stay a nothing. But if a person wants to achieve something significant in their life, they have to prepare themselves to work hard every single day at all times of opportunity. There is nothing that comes easy that's valuable. Only problems comes easy. Only danger comes easy. Only evil comes easy. Good. Something good, something productive, something useful, something profitable. With legitimacy comes hard, hard work. That's the nature of the world that instituted already at the time of what that was the curse after violated the law that Hashem told him not to eat from the tree of from the tree of knowledge. Hashem punished that everything that is useful, that is good, that is productive, whether it be food, sustenance, or otherwise will come. What is it? The sweat of your brow. Everything good comes hard. If you're looking for an easy life, that means you're either looking for evil, problems, or death. At least theoretically, people think that death is the end. But as we've already learned from our film with over 170 sources from across the spectrum of the Torah, this the film called Gay that we have on our channel that has literally reinvigorated the souls of countless people when they realize death is not the end, but rather the beginning of reality. a different type of reality. Nonetheless, a person that wants to make it in life has to realize they will have to work hard. When you study, you have to push yourself extra. When you work, you have to push yourself extra. When you want to have a successful, happy marriage, you have to push yourself extra. When you want to have good children, you have to push yourself extra. Push yourself extra in prayer. Push yourself extra in uh fixing your character traits. Push yourself extra in your generosity and and limiting your anger, removing it. All push yourself extra in every aspect. The harder you work, the more likely you are to have exerted the necessary amount of effort to succeed. Of course, the level of success is determined by a but hard work itself is success. Why? Because that means you've ex exerted the unnecessary amount of effort. And I don't mean hard work you have two jobs and you have no time to learn to you have no time for your wife. You have no time for your kids. That's not hard work. That's slavery. Hard work means that whatever time you are working, you are exerting all efforts without putting yourself in constantly in distracting situations. So now This same that exerted himself to the maximum that a human can possibly exert themselves studying 36 times every single anyone that saw the uh the on it's it's it's a it's a work of genius. It is something that obviously the divine hand was writing it with him. study each law 36 times before he sucks al before he tells you how does this pertain to reality today to the matters that are relevant today. This same says I had a very very big problem writing this letter that I had to sit on and think about for several days. how to begin the letter, which word to use that is not going to be too much honor to this wicked person that is in a position of power that can help the Jews. after he wrote this letter. He spent days worrying and in sorrow that perhaps he wasn't careful enough like necessary not to write the proper word and thereby gave more honor to this wicked person than was necessary. So when you hear Whether it be a rabbi, a board member, celebrity, whoever it may be, doesn't make a difference. When you see them complimenting some wicked person with words that should never be heard even, and constantly giving them beloved, partner, honorable in then you know this is not this is not data. Why? In fact is you're not even allowed to do that to someone that died. You're not allowed to give compliments to someone that died that you do not know they're true. This is why many of the even has a story of who went to a was asked to come to of some and was asked to give an to say some words and he limited this very to to something that people couldn't understand why this is a person studied when he say he's this he say he's that I don't know if he was I don't know if you I can't say things I don't know if I say things then I don't know if they're true. If I say he was honorable in reality he wasn't. If I say he was generous and really he wasn't. If I say he was dedicated and really he wasn't. Guess what? I will get punished and he will get punished. Both of us are going to get punished. That's why many of the actually even asked wrote in their uh will not to have anybody read anything about them. Why? They don't want to get punished because somebody's going to give them extra compliments. Why am I going to get punished? Because this guy wants to give me extra compliments. He doesn't even know it's true. So here that is very different than the world we live in today. Very different. anytime there's any type of, you know, uh, dinner that they have, you know, to to to, you know, they have these dinners at different locations to to raise money for for whatever cause they want or need. Or they have these events, these award events. I have no idea why people have award events, but they have award events. Award for this guy because he did this, award for that guy cuz he did that or he donated, he that. Okay. People want, I don't know, you want to compete with what the the goim and the Oscar awards. I'm not really understanding the whole awards thing, but people do it in different communities where they give awards to people for doing what they're supposed to be doing. But nonetheless, okay, you want to give some recognition, no problem. But who gave you the permission to give all these extra honor, extra compliments to these people? Needless to say, the wicked ones. The wrote the letter and then spent days worrying that perhaps the word that he used was too much. What did he use? Shalom. Shalom. But then he said, "Yeah, but the Torah says, the prophet Isaiah says in the name of Hashem, and shalom, Hashem, no peace, Hashem said to the wicked." How could I say shalom to this wicked person? We're not talking about that he gave a whole sentence full of compliments to this wicked person. No, we're talking about one word. He wasn't sure. Maybe this word is too much. Even can't start it with just his name. But perhaps the word that I chose was too much honor. And this was not a wicked This was not some idol worshiing priest missionary. No, no, no. This was a Jew. This was a Jew. A Jew that was in power. But nonetheless, unfortunately, due to our many sins, a wicked person, doesn't keep Shabbat, doesn't keep family purity. Now the average person says, "Yeah, but why can't we just accept everyone like they are? Why are we judging?" We're not judging. Does has nothing to do with judging. Being wicked or saying someone is wicked if you're saying it in accordance to the Torah is not judging the person. Rather, it is dictating the status of that person in accordance to the Torah. If you're using it as an adjective to describe somebody because they did something wrong to you, perhaps you're using it to judge the person. Oh, he's wicked because he didn't write me back. Oh, he's wicked because he didn't answer me the right way. Okay, then you're judging the person. You're obviously misusing the term wicked. But according to the Torah, saying that someone is wicked is not judging him in any way or her in any way, shape, or form. It's simply telling Whoever is listening the status of that person in according to the Torah just like when he saw that the were fighting among them and about to hit each other he said to the why are you about to hit your brother now just the day before he saved his life saved his life now he's calling him why he says By raising your hand even before you hit your brother, even before you hit your sister, raising your hand and threatening to hit your brother already makes you according to the Torah. Doesn't mean that I won't try to help you. Doesn't mean that I'm going to I want to kill you. No, it's simply telling you your status at this point is wicked. And being wicked is not a good thing. And we'll see why in a little while. So now the is in sorrow. Woe to me. Maybe I gave too much honor to this wicked Jew. More honor than necessary. And then the continues says in 12 years ago, meaning this is nearly 20 years after this letter took place, the same wicked Jew came to a city. And he received great honor from the community. And when I told my master the about the honor this wicked person received in the community in the Jewish community. said as follows. No, this was originally said in Yiddish, but we translate it to Hebrew. says, "What is this? Did you see how people are going to see this guy and what how they're doing like a march in his honor?" He says, "Ah, who knows? Perhaps this guy, this wicked Jew said in his life, what he said, he said amen to a kadesh once in his life when he was a kid." And now Hashem is giving him the reward in this world. Meaning all this honor that he's getting, the position of power that he has, the money he has, the respect and honor he got in the Jewish community. All of this is a repayment for that one mitzvah that he said amen to a kadish when he was a young kid. So Hashem gives him all of that reward in this world. Why? Because he's getting rid of him from the world. He's getting rid of him. He's giving him all all of the honor that he has. The position of power, the money, the the the wife and kids, the cars, the planes, the whatever. All of that is not because he's righteous opposite. He did some type of mitzvah. Perhaps he said amen to a kadesh once and therefore Hashem has to reward him for it. But he doesn't want to see him in heaven even for a half a second. But Hashem is the righteous judge. He has to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. So this guy has a lot of wickedness, but he has a righteous deed. So Hashem has given him all of this honor and money in this world because he's giving up on him for the next world. That's it. He has no world to come. This is what says he's getting rid of him from this world. And then he says the follows few after a few moments says continued and told me a story. He says one time there was some type of event the rabbis all of were there including and when it came to time for the came to speak he asked a question but nobody had an answer for him but was the question. What kind of question do all of the including do not have the ability to answer? Ask him about anything about astronomy, about physics, about any part of the Torah, whether it's Mauid or or different customs of the Yemeni, it doesn't make a difference. You ask, he's going to give you an answer. And if he's not going to give you an answer that he knows exactly, he's going to tell you exactly where to find the answer. That's what a is not someone who knows everything, but rather someone who knows where to find everything and obviously knows a whole lot of things. So now you're in an event with and you ask a question asks a question and nobody can respond. Nobody has an answer for him. Why? It's a tough question. Tough question. Why tough question? Because the answer is obvious. What was the question that asked all of including I said if it was decreed in heaven that we do not have the strength to fight a war against all of these wicked people, the wicked people of the time they were not able to fight with them at a physical war. can't get these wicked Jews in power, wicked go in and power out of their out of this world. Why? Because Mashiah hasn't come yet. So, we can't fight. We don't have the ability to fight them. All of these terrorist, we don't have the ability to fight them. Why? You kill one, 10 wake up like cockroaches. People are surprised that the war in Israel still continues. A few bombs came, the cockroaches left. As soon as they pretended to make peace, all the cockroaches and their friends came. As if it's better. You see videos literally, they're celebrating with endless amount of food and and celebration even though they're surrounded by destruction. Says the there are many wicked people in the world. We live in a world where until Mashiach comes, that's just the way it's going to be. We have to survive among the wicked. Which means sometimes you'll have to even do business with a wicked person. Sometimes you'll have to buy something from a wicked person. Sometimes you have to live next door to a wicked person. Sometimes you have to ask a wicked person for for permission for something. This is the world we live in. It's to think that you're going to be surrounded by righteous people. Even if you're going to a betet e remember what I'm saying to you. Even if you're going to a bet to think that everyone in that is righteous, you're living a delusional life with unrealistic expectations. Why the itself says if there's one bit with 10 people with a one minan that everyone is righteous, everyone is in the same opinion, everyone wants for mash will come in that moment just for that. Meaning that even if you go to a great pit that the rabbi is great and the kila overall is great, there's always going to be at least one or two wicked people. It just has to be there has to be a a little ham a little amalik a little. Needless to say, in the world that we live in today where the the media is at every is is readily available at everybody's hands. Every single person can become a news channel in literally in a matter of minutes just by pressing a few buttons. pretend like they know what that Torah is. Pretend like their opinion actually matters, saying all types of stupid things in the name of the Torah that don't exist, and pretending this is what you're supposed to the level of heresy that we're reaching today. Literally, it's a uh only can eliminate it. It's simply impossible to fight all of it. Every day there's a new story. Every day there's a new heretic that has a YouTube channel or a newsletter or a book or something that he's publishing with all types of horrible, horrible things to say that are completely the opposite of a Torah, but he thinks it's the Torah and he's telling people it's the Torah. Says, "We live in a world full of wicked people. We're all aware of that. No one is delusional here. This is all of these are all righteous people. These are alladikim that understand the world we live in. So we know we don't have the power to fight them a war. But I have a question. He says when did we get permission to give these wicked people honor though? I know we can't fight them and eliminate them from the world. We don't have a sanadine. There's no death penalty. There's no kinghood. You know, the Mashiah hasn't come. David is not here. Mosherenu is not here. We don't have we don't have the ability to to to punish the wicked. I know we have to live among the wicked. I know. But when did we get permission to give them honor? And all of the sadikim there sat quiet because they knew that this is one of the greatest problems of the generation. One of the greatest problems of the generation that is unspoken of where the wicked get honor beyond what's necessary for peace, what's necessary for survival. And this is a disgrace of the Torah. Now, says giving honor to the wicked to to somebody that's beyond what they deserve is one level of bad. But to give honor to a wicked persona wrote about 700 years ago, this brings this is not only a sin. This is a sin that causes the divine decree to be a horrible destructive one. He says it brings fire from heaven until complete destruction because it weakens the minds of those that see the wicked people get honor. The righteous people, the decent people that see wicked people get honor, they get weakened. I don't understand. I learned all day. I do righteous things. I give staka. I pray. Yet they barely even recognize me. They barely say anything to me. In fact, they mistreat me. But this that drives on Shabbat, this that that's married to a non-Jew, this wicked woman that walks around with no arms and no legs trying to show off the gifts that Hashem gave her to every man. Doesn't matter if it's a husband or not. She's getting all the honor. How How could it be? Righteous people get weakened when they see wicked people get honor. And therefore what happens? Some of those righteous people get weakened to the point where they start following the wicked the the wicked person. a person that was righteous, decent, keeping Shabbat, keeping, keeping things, but he sees all the honor and glory that the wicked people are getting. He gets enticed by it because maybe I should be like them. And all of this is given to who? The wicked people that hate us. The wicked people that hate us. So now since he brought we have to see what else said about this. We have to see what else said about this because the shuva it's a treasure chest with no end Now, it all starts off with understanding what the Torah opinion is of those that are flatterers. in the third gate of Shuba. Again, this is written about a little over 700 years ago, 750 years ago. He was the I believe the nephew of the Rambanades or cousin. Either way, one of this is one of the foundational parts of the oral of m that is any Jew of any Torah knowledge has read and studied this certainly continues to in the third gate in section 187 Seven starts a new section. It's called the class of flatterers. Now we discuss the class of flatterers. The subject of this class is divided into nine categories. The first category is a flatterer who recognizes or sees or knows that his fellow man's hand is tainted with iniquity and that he embraces deceit or that he sins through lon verbal abuse but still smooth talks him with an evil tongue and says you've committed no wrong. Not only has the flatterer committed the transgression of withholding a reproof that the Torah obligates us to say as it says in chapter 19 verse1 17 reprove your fellow man and do not uh bear a sin because of him. Not only did he withhold this reproof that he's obligated to do when he sees his fellow man sinning, but by flattering him, he further sins by saying, "You have not sinned." As the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 23:14 says, "They have strengthened the hands of the evildoers." This is a serious transgression says as the page 63A says we're in the hand of the foolish flatterer for he is not zealous for the truth rather he abetss falsehood declaring evil to be good and making light into darkness. He also places a pitfall be before the sinner from two vantage points. Meaning not only is this flatterer that's knows that his fellow man that he's complimenting whether he be a idol worshipper or a uh someone that's a known thief, criminal whatever it is someone that's like he said says all day. Not only that, he flattered him when he knew that he really is not doesn't fit the description that he just gave him. Not only did he violate the Torah by doing it and not rebuking the person instead, but he actually violated the Torah by saying the truth is false and false is truth in so many words, strengthening the sin. And this did not even achieve his goal of actually helping the person. You know, those that have the argument, well, listen, I want to compliment this wicked person because I want to bring him closer. I want to make him like us and therefore he'll eventually change and become better. No, no, you don't understand. You're not helping the wicked person by doing that. Why? Because as a result of this is this sinner will not end up regretting his evil. Why? Because if I'm getting compliments, despite driving on Shabbat, despite being a criminal in business, despite cheating on his wife, despite being into marary, despite this, despite that, despite all the wicked things, I'm still getting compliments from the local rabbi, from the YouTube rabbi, from the whatever person that's over there, the board member. If I'm getting compliments, then obviously I'm doing the right thing. And secondly, saysuna, he repeats his foolishness the next day, since the wicked flatterer has praised him in his heart's desire. Meaning now this wicked person that got all these compliments is going to continue doing the evil that he was doing. Because not only was he received flattery that confirmed that what he was doing was good in the eyes of the flatterer, but in fact it's good in general and therefore he should repeat it. He should continue being a crooked business, being a thief, being stingy, being this, being that. He should continue. Meaning that the flatterer will not have any desire to change his ways and do chuva in any way, shape or form as a result of this flattery. Besides, this is he will be a punishment for the harm that he caused to the person whom the sinner wronged by justifying the one who sinned against him. And aside from that, he will be punished for his false words. Meaning now, you just flattered this criminal. You just flattered this idoltor. You have flattered this person. Guess what? That flattery is not only a sin for all the reasons we just said, but that flattery also made you now a partner to his next crime. the next time he cheats somebody's business, the next time he cheats on his wife, the next time she walks around not modest, the next time they lie, the next time they do anything bad, because now they have confidence in their evil, guess what? They now have a partner in all of the crimes. Who is that? You, the flatterery. On this says, "Woe to the wicked and woe to his neighbor." Who's his neighbor? the flatterer as David says in you will destroy speakers of deceit. One who justifies an evildoer and he who condemns the righteous person. Both are an abomination of Hashem. Says chapter 17 verse1 15 in Mish. This applies even more so to the iniquity of his fellow man in public. If if the iniquity of his of his fellow man is public knowledge. For when the flatter says to him before others, you're pure. are you without inequity. He has desecrated and demeaned both the law and justice. He says now it's not just bad to flatter the wicked, but it's even worse to flatter the wicked in public, which is really the part that we're talking about here. The issue of flattering someone in a private meeting, on a phone call, one-on-one call, that's one level of bad. But when they give compliments to the wicked in public, whether it's in the during the time where people they're collecting and raising money from donors or it's some event, awards event, community event, whatever type of event they give compliments to the wicked or needless to say, if it's in the media, put it out there online complimenting the wicked. the damage is magnified. Why? Because more people are going to see the wicked person get flattered, get complimented. More people going to be weakened in their faith to Hashem and their loyalty to Hashem as a result of it. There's going to be more desecration of the Torah, of the truth, of the name of heaven, of name. All of that goes to the account of the flatterer. 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 sources. 30 different languages that are available to you. So if you want to ask it in Spanish, in Chinese, Portuguese, whatever you want to do, it's available for you. Can you tell me about Ria? So it's timestamped to the shield because of this green button. AI rabbi on your WhatsApp. You'll have the ability to ask questions at will. You'll be provided sources and most importantly, you'll be able to know the truth and be able to rely on the sources. Furthermore, saysuna. The second category is a flatterer who praises an evildoer in front of others whether or not he's present not by justifying the sinner's larseny or denying his accountability but by saying merely that he's a good person. So now this is something different. Most people that have their spark of purity still functioning realize that everything I just said until now in the name of the is pretty obvious. Complimenting a wicked person and saying that is evil is no good is good. It's obvious that that's not good. It's obvious it's hypocrisy. It's obvious it's against the truth of Hashem. It's obvious. But still inside the yet tells a person, okay, listen, I'm not saying that his idolatry and commitment to a man god or his a uh you know horrible ways of of of conducting business or his immorality are good. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying listen, he's a good person. I'm just looking at the good in him. Look, because he donated to the yeshiva. He donated to the homeless people. He donated to save the elephant at the local zoo. He donated to this. He donated. So he is doing good. But what about the bad? I'm not mentioning the bad. says, "The fact that you're saying that he's good and ignoring the evil that he does and saying that he's a good person, that just puts you in a different class of a flatterer that is going to get punished by Hashem." Concerning this says in chapter 28 verse4 of Mish those who forsake the Torah praise the wicked for had he not forsaken a Torah he would not have praised one who violates its words and abregates its mitzvot. The only reason why you are complimenting this wicked person is not because you are only looking at the good he does. No, rather it's because you relate to his evil. This is like the story we had on the BH kids channel. one of the stories of Schlomik where there was three merchants that went and worked for several years and then made some money and they were on the way home and on Shabbat before the Shabbat started they wanted to hide the money so they hid the money in a place that only they knew where it was. Shabbat. They saw they came back. They saw the money is gone and everybody says who did it? Who did it? Nobody knew other than us. So it must be one of us. But everybody's claiming to be innocent. They went to because they knew that to solve this riddle, you need wisdom that's beyond human. They went to and says to them, "Well, before I tell you an answer, I want to ask you guys a question because you seem like wise men to the righteous." And uh perhaps you could help me answer a question that uh the Roman king is asking me. What's the question? He says there's a story where what happened is that this girl was uh in trouble. She fell in some well and uh she was going to die. But before it was too late, a young boy saw her and said to her, "If I save you, do you promise to marry me when we get older?" And she says, "Yes, save my life." And he saved their life. and they both agreed that they'll get married when they get a little older. Time passed and she uh decided that obviously she doesn't have the uh same uh intentions that she did years ago. She grew up, she matured, she also met somebody else that seems like a better fit. But she knew she made a promise. So, she got a bunch of money together and she went to the uh young man who used to be the young boy that saved her life and said to him, "Listen, I know I promise you that I'll marry you, but I really want to marry somebody else, but I want to give you all this money to help you, to reward you, and also to get you to release me from this vow." And the young boy said to her, "No, no, no. You don't need to take give me the money. Don't worry. I don't hold anything against you. We're both young. Your vow is cancelled. I don't hold anything against you. Go marry who your heart desires, and you don't have to give me any money." On the way home, she gets captured by a group of bandits. who now have her and the money. The chief of the bandits, evil, horrible man. Was not happy that he just has this small treasure, but he also wants the girl and he wants to do evil to her. And she says to him, "Before you do what your evil heart desires, think of this. You know who this money belongs to? This money really belongs to a young boy that saved my life. And the only reason why I had this money is because I gathered all this money to have him release me from the vow. He not only did not hold me to my vow and he allowed me to have my life free as I wanted to go marry a different righteous person but he didn't even take the money that really belongs to him and now you you that you don't have any ownership of anything you not only took the money but you actually want to take me also force me to be your wife at that moment the evil wicked bandit. His heart opened up and he was touched by the words of this young girl and he stopped what he was doing before it was too late and said, "You're right. What I'm doing is evil. Here, take your money. You're free to go. So now says Melik the king is asking me who is the most righteous person in the story. Is it the young boy that gave up on not only the girl that was promised to him but also the money that she was offering him? Is it the girl or is it the bandit? And the three merchants thought and thought, first one said, "It's the boy." Second one said, "It's the girl." And the third one said, "It's the bandit." The bandit is the one that he's the most righteous. At that moment says to the third one, "You are the thief. Return the money you stole from your partners right now." No. Oh, no. I didn't do it. What are you talking about? I didn't do nothing. How? Why? How do you even know that? You relate to the thief because you are just like him. And after some influence with a few punches to the right and a few punches to the left in the right perfect place by the third man, the merchant admitted his guilt. He said he stole it. He took it. Obviously, he also violated Shabbat in the process. And now he wants to do chuva and he returned the money to his so-called friends with friends like this who needs enemies. But usually big theft is done by people that are closest to you. Same thing with adultery and all types. All of the usually the biggest sins between men and other are usually done by the people that are the closest to them. that is bringing up here writes in the third gate in se in section 189 that the only reason why you complimented this wicked person even without even without uh saying that his evil things that he does are good. You simply ignore that they exist. You just looked at the good that he does. He helped some poor people. He helped speak good about Israel. He helped uh this. He helped that. You're only looking at the good says in one of the foundational in the Torah. You are now in a category of flatterers. Why? Because the only reason you complimented him is because you relate to him. Because those who forsake the Torah, praise the wicked. We have a Torah. We have a rule in the Torah. You praise wicked people. Why? Because you yourself are wicked. No, but he's a rabbi. No, but he's a this. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. He's a whatever he is, he's wicked. Why? You praise wicked. You are wicked. The only reason why you're praising the wicked, the only reason why you relate to the thief and you think he's the best guy in the story because it was most difficult for him. Because he could have done whatever he wanted there because of all the rationalizations that you have in your mind. That means you relate to the wicked cuz you are wicked. So the fact that you're not acknowledging the guy's the wicked guy's evil and you're only looking at the good about him, that's because you're just like him. You want people to look at only the good you do and to ignore the bad you do. In fact, even if he only praises the evildoer for the good that he does, speaking well of him to others regarding his upright qualities, this too is sickly evil, says Rabenu, and this is based on Cohellet 5:15. by mentioning the good without mentioning the bad and by concealing all of his sins, all of his iniquities. Those who hear him will regard the evildoer as a righteous person and accord him honor and he will raise his hand and prevail because you complimented him. They think that, oh, he must be a good guy. And we've already informed you about the pitfalls and the corruption inherent in honoring the wicked. As such, it's not right to mention their righteousness without mentioning their wicked and their folly. As says in Mishap 10:7, the name of the wicked will rot. So here we see about how careful we have to be before saying a single word of honor about wicked people. If only people read, read the Torah, read, read, read what that is before they opened their mouth of donkeys that they have and Hashem opened the mouth of the donkey of Bam's donkey. Many donkeys in this generation now Miller shalom once told is kila about about what he thinks about when he prays and he says during that we prayed three times a day there's a section that's called this the says that the is also called the prayer of 18 blessings but really has 19 and says that's Because Katan said we have to add a 19th one as a bequesting to Hashem talking to Hashem and pleading with them to destroy the wicked people, those informers, those heretics, those intentional sinners. So we have a prayer inside the amid the most critical part of our prayer every day three times a day that is in it there's a plea to Hashem to please destroy all of the wicked people. He says, "You know, you still have to have when you pray." And you know what helps me with my covenant is I think of who are these these wicked evil people that I want Hashem to destroy. And it's always the same three. The New York Times, which is the liberal, anti-semitic, anti- Torah anti-good media, the Israeli court system, the bags, heretics, that do everything and anything possible to push their communist, atheist, Zionism and destroy the Torah till this day. And the third is any organization that supports LGBTQ. Those are the says Vdo Miller that I pray to Hashem and plead with him to remove and uproot from the world. These are the enemies of a Torah. These are the biggest enemies. One of his community members naively said to the rabbi, "I hear what you're saying. You know, these people are evil and everything, but why do you have to go to war with everybody? Why not just, you know, ignore it or accept them as they are? Why can't we just make peace with everybody, live in peace? Uh Vd Miller was surprised at the question. He says you have you read tail the words of Davididik because David says otherwise in Psalm 97 verse number says those that love Hashem hate evil. Which means that if we do not hate these anti-orah, these heretics, these that are trying to uproot the Torah, if we don't hate them, if we don't want Hashem to destroy them, all that means is that we don't love Hashem. By you thinking that we should be in peace, everyone should love each other, that means you don't love Hashem. Because the vid gives us instructions of how to connect to Hashem at the highest level. He says those that love Hashem hate evil. So if you don't hate evil, it's apparent you don't love Hashem. Furthermore says David in Psalm 139 verse 22 which the Rambam as our attitude towards those that are trying to uproot the Torah those that are brazen with their sins. says in Psalm 139 verse 21-22 for indeed those who hate you, oh Hashem, I hate them and I quarrel with those who rise up against you with the utmost hatred. I hate them. They have become enemies unto me. And then he continues saying, "Examine me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts and see if I have a vexity way and lead me in the way of eternity." David doesn't just see these words. He says to Akadosh, "Look into my heart. You are the only one that can see into my heart, into my mind. Do I mean these words that I hate your enemies? That I hate the wicked heretics? That I hate the informers? That I hate the missionaries? That I hate the idoltors? Do do I really mean it or I'm just saying, you know, words that are just air? Is it just hot air or is it really what I feel? You're the one that could test mem see what's in my heart. hating the those that are trying to uproot the Torah, the the liberal media, the bags, those organizations that support the that's an obligation that every single person has if they want to express their love of Hashem. Many people say, "No, I did chuba from loving Hashem. I just love Hashem. Okay, great. So that means you hate all the evil. You hate the evil. You hate anyone that goes against Hashem more than anybody else. No, no, I don't hate anybody. But I love Hashem. That's not possible. Do you know more than me? Do you know more than Schlommo? Do you know more than the Torah? No. Hashem says, "Those that love me hate evil." I got a video someone sent me made years ago by one of the one of the great rabbis the previous generation was giving a shure to his community an outcry that reached from one corner of the world to the other but unfortunately has been forgotten with time where if Gifter is crying out to the community about his alma mater Yeshiva University and how they have supported the TOEA to the point where among the so-called yeshiva university there's a segment of it that promotes TOEVA and acknowledges them. Today the headlines are that even Yeshiva University acknowledges them. And according to the law of the land, Yeshiva University is not even considered a religious entity. But here one of the great rabbis that came out of yeshiva university well before this toya happened cried out when he saw how this is happening in front of his eyes and everyone is staying quiet. How can everybody be quiet about this? He says, "How can everybody be quiet when there is toa inside a yeshiva, an institution that calls itself a yeshiva? How could the two coexist in peace and be acknowledged?" He calls the chief of that school. And the chief of the school says, "Listen, if we do not acknowledge the tova, we're not going to get any government funding." When he reached one of the rich Jews that donated a million dollars to the school in a recent campaign, how could you support such things? And he got the same response. If we do not acknowledge the toya, we're not going to get government funding. And Rava cries out to Is and whoever is listening until this day as the tears of heaven are getting bigger and bigger. And how could this be that we acknowledge and accept to in the world of Torah? How could it be that everyone is silent about it? How could it be? And if silence was not a crime enough, praising the wicked makes it even worse. Asen tells us, praising the wicked takes the bad into worse. As he says in section 190 in the third gate that sadikim despise the wicked. As says in Mishap 29 27 a man of iniquity is an abomination to the righteous. And therefore one who is not a member of the sadikim. You're not a sadik. You don't claim to be a sadik. Even you, even you have an obligation. Even the person that's not a member of the Tadikim, if he does not despise and curse the wicked, at least he should not bless them. We're not saying go out there and hate the wicked liked Miller. Okay, you're not among the fine. Who gave you the right to compliment them? asks the Who gave you the right to give them a place in the Yeshiva University? Who gave you the right to invite them into your synagogue despite the fact that their daytoday job is missionizing Jews to abandon the Torah and go to the world of idolatrous Christianity? who gave you the right? As we warned you years ago of one of the dangerous personalities in the Jewish world and the world at large who runs the organization Daily Wire, guy by the name of Ben Shapiro. Many people went against me when I said that he is a problem even though he claims to be a modern Orthodox Jew who wears his keeper proudly and speaks favorably of Israel. And we brought to light the fact that is an organization and colleagues are Christian missionaries. Some of which are of the worst type like Andrew Claven. that is not only a Jew according to Allah, but is a worst type of Jew on planet earth because he abandoned jewelry and joined the missionary world and the top most dangerous Israeli missionaries on planet earth, a company called One for Israel. Now, if this was not bad enough, many people acknowledge but more or less ignored the fact that even though Ben Shapiro claims to be an Orthodox Jew who joined to my knowledge the his fellow Ephraim Goldberg goes by Rabbi Ephraim Goldberg in his community in Boca Raton Florida they even had a few podcasts together to get some views No one thought that it's a problem to honor Ben Shapiro, publicize him, help him get even bigger than what he is, get more popular, ride his wave, if you will. No one thought it's a bad thing to give him more honor, to give him more respect. In fact, they were benefiting from him more than he was benefiting from them. And this whole talk about him being connected to missionaries. Listen, what the missionaries do is their business. What Ben does is his business. He's not missionizing. He speaks good about the Torah. Even though he says things that are heretical and against the Torah, but that's disregarded, too. Well, you fast forward a few years and it seems like it's another one of those times where I hate to be right. Well, I as a Jew have not only no problem with people saying, for example, Christ is king. I think that that's a good thing for Christians to say. I want Christians to do that because I think that for American society, more people need to declare who are Christian that Christ is king and go back to church. And frankly, as a Jew, I'm flattered that you care enough about my soul that you wish me to become one of you. That's that's a lot better than it has been historically where people were coming after people like me with a sword and forcing conversion or forcing death. You know, that that is all not only fine, that is that is wonderful for me. But what what you are seeing very often is people now taking messages that I think are very good for Christians and that I I would hope that Christians would would promulgate and and instead they're using that as a weapon politically against people that they don't like. But I'm sure that more people are going to disagree again. You see, as things develop in the world of Torah and spirituality, connection to Hashem, it's either you rise closer to Hashem or you fall further from Hashem. There's no neutral. If you connect and partner with the wicked, you're going to fall. Even if you mean well, even if you say good things. Why? Woe to the wicked. Woe to his neighbor. Even if his neighbor is righteous. You see, in recent months, the inner feelings and desires of his colleagues have been highlighted dressed, you know, in in a very very public way, especially since October 7th. Whether it's one of his former colleagues that publicly be publicly became in front of the whole world anti-semitic in every way, shape or form and even got fired by Ben because she was expressing anti-semitism. But her anti-semitism was also at the same time promoting Christian ideology. The same stuff that's actually said in the New Testament. She wasn't saying things that were the opposite of the New Testament. At least not according to her. According to the colleagues of Ben Shapiro, she was saying things that were bad and we cannot be partners with them. Fine. So you would think, okay, so perhaps this is a good thing. They're trying to not be openly anti-Semitic and perhaps not even go against the Torah. Well, you would think that until another colleague of the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro, a guy by the name of Michael Nose, decides to have a podcast video that reached hundreds of thousands if not millions of people with guess who? One of the top per people in one for Israel. Yes, the very same missionary anti-TRA enemies of the Torah organization that Andrew Claven also supports and speaks for at times. Andrew Claven already made a video for One for Israel. That's old news. They want new meat. Who they get? They get another guy. Where you going to find another guy? Let's get another guy from the same organization. The Daily Wire. Yeah. the same organization that's actually founded by a Orthodox Jew. So they get who? Michael Nolles who on one hand practices Catholicism but has partnered up with evangelical Christians which in reality they're really spiritual enemies at least according to their own scriptures. But nonetheless, you see that Michael Nolles has the same interest as the Christian missionaries, which is what? To convert Jews to Christianity, even though many say that Catholics do not missionize. Well, apparently Michael Mills doesn't agree. Just like the other missionaries that Ephraim Goldberg invited to his shul also don't agree. They also want to missionize and bring Jews to Christianity. Even though Ephraim Goldberg doesn't agree. If you look at the day jobs of these missionaries and what they do and what they say, they themselves don't agree with Ephraim Goldberg. But they leave Efron Goldberg to himself to say whatever he wants to convince the Ka that is in essence sitting sheep waiting to be slaughtered as more and more people in the community leave Judaism leave Torah and really become more inclined to agree with the Christians. Well, if that was the story, it wouldn't be enough until you add one of the newest developments that was brought to my attention where apparently even Ben Shapiro, the modern Orthodox Jew, apparently he himself is also of the opinion that is more in line with the Christian missionaries than it is with Orthodox Jew. story because he said to some priest or pastor that he was an an interview with that he thinks that all Christians he makes him happy to hear that all Christians will praise their man God and he actually says Jesus and the name that's forbidden to say because he obviously does not know the law does not know the alaka They're not supposed to say it. But nonetheless, even if we excuse that, he's happy that Christians are following what the Torah says is idol worship. And if that's not bad enough, Mr. Ben Shapiro says he even is humbled by the fact that the Christian missionaries want him to convert to Christianity because they worry about his soul. If his stupid mouth didn't say these words, I would never make it up. But I'm going to make sure to put the video for you guys to see it, to actually see the donkey speak these words. How can you possibly utter such foolishness? It's mindboggling. Remove the keeper already and pretend to be some sheh from Saudi Arabia. At least then we wouldn't have a problem with it cuz no one would think you're Jewish and saying such stupid things. But why is he doing it? Why is this happening? Why did that woman go and decide to become o openly anti-semitic even though she doesn't think she's anti-Semitic? Why did Kanye West decide to become openly anti-Semitic even though he doesn't think he's anti-Semitic, even though he has a swastika shirt? Why is all of this happening? You know why it's all happening? Because so long as we praise the wicked, just like Ben Shapiro did, as long as we ignore the wicked's crimes against Hashem, as long as we compleiment the wicked, we are empowering them and enabling them and in fact adding to their army as other people watch the wicked. wicked get praised and thereby decide to follow them. In so many words, he became a missionary just like his open missionary friends and colleagues are. No different than one for Israel, no different than Andrew Claven, no different than Nolles, no different than the the rest of the Gish that were invited to the Booker Raton synagogue, no different than any other herod. same thing and even more because his obviously his audience is much bigger. But guess what? People are still going to watch him tomorrow. People are still going to ignore what I'm saying. And I'm not talking about the people that don't watch this, that don't know this. I'm talking about you that are watching everything that I'm saying right now. You're still going to ignore and you're still going to support his program. You're still going to watch him. Maybe you're going to make a comment. Maybe you shouldn't have done that, but you're still going to watch it the next day. You're still going to support it. Maybe subscribe, maybe pay, maybe this. Why? Because you don't love Hashem. And so long as you don't love Hashem, you will never hate evil. And in fact, you will justify it. You will rationalize it. You will learn to live with it as if it doesn't exist, even though it's right in front of your face. says to us, "If we want any chance in winning the war against Amalik, the first thing we have to fix is our ideology. Yes, we're in a business of Kiru to help wicked people become righteous. But anyone that has spent any time in Kiru knows that there is wicked and there's wicked. There's wicked as a result of ignorance. People that are simply ignorant in what the truth is. And there's wicked because they want to destroy the Torah. Some of those wicked people that want to destroy the Torah have a keeper and a beard even and even call themselves rabbis. Some of the wicked people that are destroying the Torah have YouTube channels with thousands and tens of thousands of subscribers where they believe they're teaching the Torah. Some of the wicked people are openly wicked and they're in courts. They're judges. They're lawyers. They're all types of things. To know that someone is wicked is not so simple. If you're just looking for their actions in the open, whether they drive on Shabbat or they eat pigg or they steal or they uh do anything that's obvious to the eyes that are seeing them. Sometimes the wickedness is simply the words that are coming out of their mouth. And if you want to be able to have a working radar, you have to love Hashem. Because the more you love Hashem, the more you will hate wickedness. At the same token, when you see wicked out of ignorance, people that simply do not understand the responsibility, the judgment, the gratitude we have to Hashem, the obligation we have to Hashem, people simply don't know any of this, then you will do everything possible to help those people. The problem is is that many people delude themselves to thinking that they love Hashem even though they don't hate evil and in fact delude themselves to thinking that they love is even though they don't. If you don't care about the spiritual status of another Jew, that means you hate him. Because if you know that anyone that goes against the Torah will end up getting punished in a punishment that's beyond comprehension. And a small taste of it was shown in a few of our movies, but that's just a small taste of it. It's certainly not a completely comprehensive ex uh uh show of everything that actually happens there. It's much worse than what we could ever describe. If you don't care about a Jew that's going to go there, then you obviously hate him. You can't say you love him or her if you don't care about what's going to happen to them. And if you say, "No, no, I just don't believe it's going to happen to them." Oh, then that means that you also hate Hashem and you're a heretic. Even if you go to school, even if you do a lot of things that the Torah says to do, if you don't believe in reward and punishment, you're in essence considered a heretic. You don't believe in a Ta. You believe in something else. You've invented your own religion. Now what ends up happening is the picture gets blurry when there is money involved. In the situation with Ben Shapiro when we warned people that the picture was blurry many people ignored it and today it's become dark in the world of Torah. Unfortunately in some places it's also dark and one of the reasons is money. As our own dear Rab Fry wrote in his third volume, one of the problems in the generation is he writes he says to uncover his own opinion in the matter. One of the problems is how there is virtually no respect for the Torah anymore like it's supposed to. Rather, the respect is given to those that have money who also believe that their money entitles them to the opinion. And unfortunately there are some religious people that need their money and therefore agree with them, compliment them. And on this read writes that only as a result of the degradation of the generations where if a person would spend their time working they wouldn't be able to study enough Torah in order to become a theim in essence make it permissible for Torah scholars to benefit from people meaning receive donations But this leniency if you will for Torah scholar to receive donations for rabbi to receive donations it's not a open ticket to start looking at everyone as your rent your vacation your, you know, your house, your uh watch, your next building. That's not what the sages permitted. It's not the Torah permits. In fact, there's no permission to degrade yourself in order to receive the money from the rich people because even the Torah says that everyone was obligated to give them there's an obligation for every Jew to give certain things to the Torah itself obligated obligates us. Even theanim that went and reached out and told people what to give them. Hey, here's this. I'm giving it to you. No, no, no, I don't want that. Give me something else. Give me this. Give me this. Like the sons of Elien. The sons of Eliu got punished severely. Why? Because they didn't just accept the like you're supposed to. They give you. Thank you. That's it. No, no, no. They went they told people this, you have to give me this, you have to give me, give me this, give me this. We know says the that even the that did that got punished because this type of attitude was unacceptable in the eyes of Hashem. Even though they were entitled to get the money, they were entitled to get whatever they were supposed to get the the the the things of the uh of the quanim. Still, the fact that you went out there and you told people what to give you and how much to give you and when and all that stuff, that's not the way that that you're supposed to behave. Yes, they have to give it to you, but who said that you have to go and get it and tell them what to give you? And therefore those who punish them. And therefore says, "What about those of this generation?" He says, meaning his generation a couple hundred years ago that are going to different rich people and doing whatever they need to do, including disgracing themselves in the Torah by telling people, "No, no, you give me this, give me that, give me, give me, give me." You're not even a Quran at the time of the bet mikdash that is owed anything. And you're going out there and you're wiping the floor with the Torah due to your behavior by simply going out there and collecting because of your lust for money because of your dis just complete disconnect from your all you care about is money. And you think that by doing that you're going to do good because you figure that listen I may not be doing it in the best way but at least I'm raising the money and therefore I can build another yeshiva there's going to be more to learned says the these people you're raising money from you think that you're helping them by getting taka from them no as a result of your behavior and how you view money with such honor and a with less. Those people that are donating to you are not going to believe in those same people that are donating to you now. Not only they don't believe in the of the generation, they'll end up speaking against as we've seen the last few years, especially after Corona, a lot of religious people became ant. Why? Because you gave honor to his money more than the Torah. And therefore he thinks that his the Torah is in his pocket. Just like the in page 52b says to what does a look like? meaning how is he viewed by a it's a regular person that's not a Torah scholar but in a beginning the rich man that has all the money in the world but doesn't have Torah views the rabbi views the Torah scholar like precious gold But once the Torah scholar starts befriending him, talking to him, how you doing? What' you do this weekend, all of a sudden once he related to him? He saw, oh, he's not just precious metal. He's like a silver. He went down. Why did he go down? He's still precious in his eyes, but he went down. Why did he go down? Why? Because he saw he's human. He's human. He's relatable. He's a nice rabbi. He's a nice guy. Okay. He's not this distant sadik that uh is beyond my reach. He's a regular He's like one of us. A little bit better though. He's more righteous. He knows a lot more books. Okay. Then the continues after the rabbi, the Torah scholar starts benefiting personally benefiting from this rich man. Does the rich man view the rabbi better as a result of his support? He says, "Listen, I just donated $20,000 to the rabbi. I helped him uh put a down payment on his house. I helped him this. I helped him that. Look, I got him a car." Does he view him even better? No. Opposite says the once he starts personally benefiting from this person many times the perspective that this so-called donor has of the Torah scholar has actually dropped even more. Why? He now views him like clay. Not like gold before he spoke to him. Not like silver after they spoke, but now he looks at him like clay. Why like clay? Why so cheap? Because just like clay, once it receives impurity, it cannot be fixed until it's broken. The same thing here. Once that non Torah scholar, that regular person has related to the Torah scholar to the extent where he is in his pocket. He needs me. He needs my donations. There is no respect for Torah or the Torah scholar anymore because now the donor thinks he owns the Torah. He owns you. And if you don't say what he wants, you are going to suffer because you need him according to the rich man. Therefore says, She says because he gave this rich man more honor, more honor than necessary. Certainly somebody donates, you have to be grateful, you have to be respectful, no problem. But once you start kissing up, flattering people, you start ignoring their wickedness and prioritizing money over everything, not only is the Torah not going to benefit from it, but in fact, it's going to get hurt from it as a result of it. And that's why anyone that raises money for any reason that's for the world of Torah, when you're going to speak to donors, if you choose to speak to donors, before you do so, and even after you do, ask yourself, did you speak to him that way? Did you talk to him that way? Did you say those words because you want his money or because you're trying to help him get closer to Hashem and do chuva? Are you choosing those compliments and whatever words you choose to say about and to this person because you're trying to loosen up his pocket or because you're trying to help his which one is a priority to you? This is a critical thing says the and what ends up happening says the asim brings in his he continues the says on the same that when people give honor to the rich people more than what's necessary, thinking that they need to do so in order to get donations, in order to get people to follow the Torah. You start respecting them beyond what's necessary, what's needed. What you're not realizing, you are embarrassing yourself. out, you're embarrassing yourself and that's not not going to give you any good. You're trying to relate to them. You're playing basketball with them. You're trying to you're not you're not doing any good for you or for the Torah. Why? Because the second that you do anything, says the look good in their eyes, doesn't sound good in their ears. He says, "The second that you say the things they don't want to hear, the second you do something they don't want to see, they're going to rip you to shreds much more than they would have if you one of them. They're going to rip you to pieces. They're going to hold everything against you as if you're the biggest criminal in the world. So, the fact that you think that you're befriending them and you are, you know, uh, having them treat you like you're one of them and that's going to bring them to donate more to honor the Torah, you're not honoring the Torah. Why? the more you treat them with greater honor than they deserve, needless to say, greater honor than Torah because of their money, the worst it is. In fact, Shalom made it a a rule for himself that he would never eat with other people aside from his obviously his wife. He would never eat with other people with the community. Why? Once you start eating with them, they start thinking that you're just like one of them. Many do do that. They don't eat in front of people. And there's different things that you can and can't do. Why? Because the moment your community starts seeing you as one of them, you are no longer their Mosheu. You're no longer the gold. You're no longer the silver. In fact, you're even less than them. I saw this literally happen in front of my eyes with this rabbi that came to the community. one place that I used to live in and he thought that he could be friends with everyone, talk to everyone, chitchat, and that's going to give him a permanent job. That's going to give him per permanent stability. In the beginning, it seemed like it was working until he said one or two things that a few people didn't like. And before he knew it, he had to look for a new job. Even though he already bought a house, even though his kids were going to school, he was already settled in as if this was going to be his lifelong career. He's going to be in this place for 50 years. Literally, to his surprise and dismay, the community threw him out faster than he can blink. And now he's in such a horrible position. He still has to go to that same sh that he used to be a rabbi in. A person has to know there's about everything. When it comes to kissing up to people, flattering people in itself, it's not good. But it becomes much much worse if you do it because you think it's going to somehow help the Torah. himself writes about an event that he told him that it's better off to cancel the event and end up shutting down the yeshiva if that's what it took to actually uphold the yeshiva. What happened? They told him they want to have an event, a money raising event. I believe it was kila was young Israel and the event the dinner was going to have dancing with you know men and women not like today's despicable dancing but in so many words ma's dancing by men and women says shut down the event and shut down the yeshiva if that's the only way to raise money you cannot build a by destroying it so if you're going to be raising money from people You have to be careful with the words you choose as far as complimenting them, as far as flattering them. Even more so, a person that's not even trying to raise money, but they think that they want to make friends or they want to make peace. If you're making peace with wicked people, you're making a problem. You're not making a peace. And worse yet, if you're praising the wicked, not only by disregarding their sins, by actually accepting their sins and saying that they're not really sins, the good is the evil is good. You've literally desecrated every aspect of the Torah. When a person that has such reach and influence like Ben Shapiro praises the missionaries for missionizing. Honestly, I don't think there's anything worse that he could have done in his life or can do in his life than that. I believe it's even worse than him converting to Christianity. Because already by now when you're saying that what they're doing is good, there's literally nothing worse than you can do. But those people that care less about any of this are also going to care less when the local criminal is praised by the local rabbi despite his crimes. because the local rabbi or the local community wants the criminals money. They want the cash advance money even though the cash advance is destroying people's lives and the economy at the same time and will eventually cause anti-semitism to hit new highs beyond the Holocaust times. A person has to know there's a judge that views everything and he will not let go of anything. There are laws to this world. There are ways to build and they do not require flattery of wicked people or really of anybody. All you have to do is pray to Hashem, treat people with respect and care more about their than their bucket. And if they really are decent people that know how to show gratitude and know how to share the benefits that they get, then they will donate without you having to kiss up to them, without you having to flatter them, without you even having to ask them. How do I know? That's how functions. Till this day, we've never asked for a single penny from anybody. The farthest extent that we do is we simply publicize an email or a link or poster of our campaigns. Whoever donates donates. I had one guy told me that he wants to talk to me about donations. I told him if he wants to donate, here's the link. No, but I want to donate $35,000. Said, "Fine, no problem. Here's the link." But can we talk about it? No. Here's the link. That's it. There's nothing to talk about. If you want to donate, there's the link. The same person told me that he's having trouble praying. He needs a sidul. I spent the next two hours looking for the right sidue for him, sending him the information, going back and forth and eventually even doing the transaction for him to buy the sidul and a few other things. Why? For the donation of potential $35,000. The most attention that he got is a simple link in a short voice note. Here's why to donate. No back and forth, no discussions, no please, nothing. Here it is. You want to donate? Here you go. But you have a problem with your nama. You have a problem praying. You don't know which sidu to pick and so on. I did whatever I could at the time to make the time to help this poor Jew have the tools he needs to pray to. And that took a couple of hours. Why? Simple. Because I learned from my dear Raim who learned from Israenim who learned from Debenim who learned from Deranim all the way until Mosheu that if you want to help is if you want to help the world you have to care about their more than their pocket. What about the fact that we need a lot of money in order to do a lot of good things? If they know how to show gratitude, if they know how to share the benefits they got with other people, if they really are decent human beings that you've helped, then guess what? They're going to want to help you help more people. If it's for showing gratitude to Hashem, showing gratitude to you. If it's sharing the benefit, it's for an endless amount of reasons. They will do everything possible to prioritize their donations to go to help you do more of what you do. Why? Because you cared about their nama and not their pocket. But if you care about their pocket, you may get a lot more money. But you will not help even a single soul as a result of it because in they know you don't care about the people. So they won't give you the privilege to help a single soul get closer to Hashem. Even if you build 50 buildings, not a single one of them will get closer as a result of your actions. You have to care about certainly there's no problem with personal benefits, living, whatever it is that you need. But remember, you don't do it because it's going to pay your rent or buy you a vacation. You do it because you care about getting people to do cha all the other stuff. If it happens, that's what Hashem decided. If it doesn't happen, that's what Hashem decided. These are side factors, completely inconsequential, never the purpose. The moment money becomes your purpose, you have misled yourself and others to a place far away from Hashem. The more you care about helping is get closer to Hashem, the more you will help closer to with or without a lot of money. We will stay loyal to the Torah, to its sages, and all of the right and beautiful words that it says in order to publicize name and his glory and his Torah in every corner of the world to get every precious back to Hashem cleaner than He gave it to them. And we do it with success. And we merit to have the people that want to help others do the same. Thank you very much for learning with me. Those of you that want to help, those of you that want to show gratitude, those of you that want to support, you can go on.org. You could do a lot of different things to help us and you will have the merit to actually do that because that in itself is an achievement. Thank you very much for learning with us. We'll learn again soon. All right. for me.