I Believe | Rabbi Yisroel Besser

There was a very respected Rav, a distinguished Yid, who came into the Bes Din of Rav Nissim Karelitz, famous Dayan in Bnei Brak. This Rav was a Rav in the town of Akko. Akko, there was a lot of underworld figures. There was an established Israeli mafia and he came into Rav Nissim Karelitz with a שאלה. This Rav had been called by a certain person to come be מסדר קידושין, to officiate at the marriage. Now, he knew it was an older person and it was a second marriage, and he went to see the situation. And he saw that the groom, the person who was getting married, the Choson in the situation, was an older man in his seventies and he was very, very famous as one of the figures of the Israeli mafia, a lifelong criminal, a very tough person, a very unsavory person, a person who didn't have a great reputation at all. And there was a woman who was ready to marry him. And the Rav started to ask questions. You want me to make this Kidushin? You want me to officiate at this marriage? Who is she? Why does she want to marry you? He said: Oh, she was my ex-wife. We got divorced. He said: And she wants to marry you again? Ostensibly, if she got rid of you, there was a reason for it. He says: Yeah, she's getting paid a lot of money. I'm giving you 10 million shekels in order to marry me again. So the Rav said: Why? So he said: I know that which Chazal say, that a Choson, one who gets married, who walks up to the Chupah, is מוחלין לו כל עוונותיו, his sins are forgiven, they’re absolved of everything. So he says: I'm an older person, and I'm worried what's going to be in the next world. I'm going to have to answer for a lot of sins, so I'm getting married again so that I should earn that Mechilah, that I should earn that absolution, that I should earn that forgiveness. And she agrees to it. The Rav told the story to Rav Nissim Karelitz, and he said: Does that Teshuva work? He only got married so that he should get the Teshuva, the repentance that comes with being a Choson. Is that good? So Rav Nissim Karelitz said. Whatever the Halachic answer is of whether the Teshuva works, it certainly works that his Teshuva is real, for somebody who believes that deeply and that firmly and that clearly, in the words of Chazal who say, that he's ready to pay for it. Someone who is ready to pay $10 million to get the promise, the pledge, the assurance of Chazal that a Choson has absolution, that alone is the Teshuva. That means he’s so sure that Chazal said that this is the reality, it's hard as a rock in front of him, he could see it, he can touch it, is itself Teshuva. What Rav Nissim Karelitz was saying is there's so many promises that Chazal make to us, and as much as we believe in those words and as much as we're ready to make that pledge and that assurance part of our lives, that's how much we're able to tap into that power. Chazal promise us that a person is מקדש himself מלמטה, a person works to be a little holier, a little more elevated when he's here, then he earns a flow, a Shefa, a shower of Kedusha מלמעלה. We know it from Chazal that הבא ליטהר, somebody who comes to be a little more pure, מסייעין לו, he gets help. When we stand and we walk down the street and we don't look at something that maybe we’re tempted to look at, or go somewhere, maybe we're tempted to go, we make that decision to be a little higher, a little hecher, we're saying two things. One, of course, we're standing up in the face of a Nisayon, in the face of temptation, which is in itself an amazing thing. But what we're also doing is we’re saying, We believe in Chazal. Chazal promised us that we have to do our part down here, and He's going to make it easier for him up there. The belief in the words of Chazal and the relying on the words of Chazal, is itself the biggest Segula, the most auspicious way, to earn that flow of Tahara from Shomayim.