Who Is Your Best Student? | TORAH FOUNDATION (30)

We're back here on our Torah Foundation series where the is digging deeper and deeper into our hearts each and every single week trying to help us fix it and at the very least understand that it needs to be fixed. Tonight's show is going to be for the David and also to them and to all the people that continue to support the organization and help us do all the wonderful things. We have a couple of short announcements. We have a event that was just announced today that we're going to be coming to Miyad on August 3rd, Monday, August 3rd. It's going to be in my uh there's a possibility we may do a second event a few days later in uh New York City somewhere uh either in Brooklyn or one of the other burrows. So, with that being said, anyone that wants to support wants to sponsor the lectures that we'll be giving because they cost a fortune, a lot more than what people think. There's the flights, there's hotels, there's stuff that we give out for free, there's a lot of stuff. There's the taxis, there's a lot of stuff going on. Uh, anyone that wants to sponsor can go on our website bezem.org and you could either be one of the sponsors or you could just donate whatever you want. So, with that being said, the question that we're going to answer today is, who is your best student? Now, we're all here learning and every person that learns yearns to teach at least somebody else. And on multiple occasions, I was asked, "Who's my best student?" And while this question seems simple at the surface, it actually affects everyone. The is telling us about the behind the scenes behind writing this book. And many people today, as I'm sure you know, run after the new sadik. Always there's always some nude sadik that everybody runs after without really realizing that there are certain requirements that are missing from this sadik and perhaps from them themselves in order to know the difference between a sadik and another conman with a kipon. tune in to a massively important sh that will teach you who is the best student and why it should be you. So the says that when I realized what reason, scripture and tradition had called for the duties of the heart, I began to train my soul in them and took upon myself the task of studying them and practicing them. First, we see that from nearly a thousand years ago, the is telling us a very old lesson that came from the Torah, which is practice what you preach. But not just practice what you preach. Rather, practice what you preach before you preach it. Many people like to tell people what to do. Who doesn't who doesn't like to tell people what to do? Many people want to show that they know stuff. So they write comments and say, "I know this and I know that and I did this and I did that." Many people like to express their ideas in public. Sometimes you see people write comments on some of our videos that are literally meat times two that has nothing to do with the lecture. They just simply came to a place, parked their idea and figured that the world needs to know this idea. Many times it's complete nonsense. The point is that teaching is certainly something that people like to do. Not necessarily always in a class setting, not necessarily always in a video setting, but people like to share their ideas. The is trying to teach us first thing first. He is one of the gonim he's one of the greatest sages that ever lived. If you combine all of the that lived in the last hundred years that would not they would not compare to the this is someone that is keshim giant among giants but yet he tells us something that seems simple. Before you preach do it yourself. years ago Moshe Levi gave a sh on Kanuka and every week he would give shuim tell the ka tell the community about different alot that apply to the times. So during Kanuka, he would teach them different things about Kanuka. And Alvi said, "And anyone that has the ability financially should go and invest and buy themselves a manora we call it in English, from silver." And one of the old students said, "But last year you didn't say this." He said, "You're right. Last year I did not say it because I only merited having the money to buy a silver kukia this year. So how could I tell you guys something that I'm not doing this too also for any of you that are fortunate enough to watch our entire series of from my perspective the best series we've ever done and most fundamental series for people today. It'll outdo any type of teachings you will ever have from any self-help gurus and uh trainers and whatever they call themselves today consultants because it simply speaks about everything from the perspective of the sages that applies to every aspect of your life. And many times in the we see that the is mentioned let's just call it oral or uh any but then the next Mishna says who are he used to say. So the rule of thumb is anytime it says who are he used to say it is referring to the last sage that was speaking. But what is it really trying to teach us here? Obviously the Mishna is not known to have surplus words or unnecessary words. Why can't it just say the sage's name? Because you could learn that it's the previous sage. But you can also learn something else from here when it says he used to say meaning he used to say therefore he used to be he used to do this what he says is what he does. So we see that the Mishna preceded by over a thousand years is teaching the same lesson. And he says that when I realized that all of these sources from every aspect of the Torah, the written Torah, the oral Torah, reason that the obligation of the duty of the heart is not just something to ignore. And therefore I I began to train my soul in them and took it upon myself the task of studying them and practicing them. And of course as you would have it when you start toiling in Torah you start getting you start getting divine assistance. And he says, "The discovery of one matter relating to these duties always led me to the discovery of another matter and one to yet another until the subject became very broad." Here he's telling you how it works. When you're learning Torah, you have you find something, you find your own kush, your own understanding of something. And if it's a real kush, it'll bear fruit where you'll see, oh, there's another kush. And then you see there's another kush and there's another kush. He starts understanding more and more of what is feeding his as we say before we learn to each and every day that he is the one that gifts knowledge of the Torah. It's not because you have a super sized brain, a very high IQ or anything like that, but rather it's based on what Hashem wants to give you based on your effort, based on your toil. And says, "Based on my toil, gave me one new insight after another. And each new insight helped me understand the previous one and the next one. But it became broad. It became extensive. And it became difficult for me to remember it all by heart. And I was afraid that I would forget what I had learned of them and that the ideas that I had developed on the subject would unravel in my mind given the little help that was available from other contemporaries. See the thousand years ago is telling us just because somebody has a very good memory doesn't make them do. There are many people that assume that just because somebody mentions many sources in their lectures therefore they're a giant. They're no it just means they have a good memory. If somebody remembers a lot of Torah, that's great. But that does not make them aul that makes a gift that Hashem gave them come to reality. There are some people that waste that gift and remember all types of nonsense like phone books and phone numbers and uh salary caps and all types of things that uh are not going to do any good for them. But the point is that just because somebody remembers a lot of Torah, which is good to remember, that in itself does not make the Magdala do. If you take a USB with two terabytes of Torah on it, all the books you could possibly imagine, hundreds of thousands of books on that USB, and you put it in your pocket, and you walk to shu, does anyone need to stand for you? because there's so much Torah in the USB. Certainly that USB has more Torah than anybody else remembers in the world. And no, nobody has to stand for you. Why? Because the USB was created in order to contain information. It did not do anything for it. The same concept goes with somebody that remembers a lot of Torah. It's not his memory that leads us to stand up for him or consider him Abdullah, but rather how much he toiled over that Torah because that's the value. Somebody has a good memory, good for him, but that's not going to make him ADA. Even if he remembers every single word that anyone has ever said, it's how much effort they're willing to put behind learning Torah. Ysef said that in Yeshiv there were two Bahim that got their hands on a plant that in Hebrew is called Balador. In English there's speculation of which plant this is. Some say it's a uh semicarpus an accordium. Some say it's something else. Even some say it's coffee beans. Point is that this balador has a history in many sages even many have mentioned it. that's mentioned in the where this plant is the ultimate plant for memory because it was known that if you could dry the brain, the brain naturally is wet. But if you could dry the brain, the drier the brain is, the more it could contain things to remember. It opens up the mind. The problem with this plant bal is that it's a poisonous deadly plant. So one tiny ounce of it that you took, not even an ounce could kill the person, could destroy their health. And that's why there was a saying. Meaning in so many words, it's better to review your Torah learning instead of getting a bad that's going to make you remember everything you've ever learned. Some even say that investigate it that this was originally discovered by and shalom said that there were two that took this plant and and ate it consumed it and they both recognized as gonim literally overnight they remembered everything. It opened up their mind in extraordinary ways beyond comprehension. The problem was one of them started losing their mind until he eventually killed himself. The other one got stomach problems that was so bad that he nearly died as well. to get the bel or anything else that's going to assist your memory in itself is not going to make you a giant inra. What will make a person a giant in Torah is how much toil, how much effort, how much you're willing to expend in order to serve a saying, I decided to write them down in a book in a work which would include their basic principles, main chapters. s and many particular applications so that I might expect of myself always to know them and bring myself to perform them in so many words. What the is saying is that I wrote this book for myself [snorts] said that a person should be careful to ensure that all of the Torah that they're learning isma it's for the sake of heaven not for their own benefit years later when he published the kazonish he told his students I really didn't want to publish so many of them. I just wanted one one copy because, you know, my handwriting is not very neat and I wanted it to be printed. But when I took it to the printing shop, they told me I can't just print one. I have to print 500. So, I printed 500 and I figured I'd give it to people. from his humility of just simply wanting to write the book for himself. Just like the we have the in the same respect said I wrote the azriz of I wrote it with no question. Oh really? Wow. goes, "Yeah, because I THOUGHT TO MYSELF, WHO ELSE WOULD ever read my book? Why would anyone care to read my book?" So I wrote it just for myself. And of course, many many people read and read and will read Davli. But the point is that these followed in the same footsteps as the saying that this book the number one student of this book is myself. I wrote it for myself to remind myself what I learned to remind myself what I need to do. Not to tell people what to do but to tell myself first others can follow suit. But me first. me first. And then he continues and he says, "When I find out my when I find out my personal conduct is consistent with what I have written in these duties, I will thank the Almighty who helps me with them and guides me in their paths. When I find that it is inconsistent with it or fall short of what I have written, I will hold myself responsible and be self-critical with my book as my yard stick. Bearing in mind the standard of conduct that is described in the book, I will be able to distinguish between its nobility and my own meanness, its straight path and my own deviations, its perfection and my own distortions, its wholeness and my own inadequ inadequacies. Here the is telling us one of the fundamental lessons for anyone that wants to serve Hashem properly. If you want to reach a higher level, we're not talking about becoming a great sadik. We're simply talking about not being not being wicked and then once you're not wicked anymore, becoming more righteous. And then once you become more righteous, perhaps even more. and on and on. All of it requires the same step ladder, which is constantly review your own actions against what the Torah obligates you and see where you stand. It's easy to point fingers at other people and say, "He's not doing right. She's not doing right. He's not keeping." Especially if it's a mitzvah that you keep. Many times a person starts keeping Shabbat without learning enough mousar to fix their character traits. So they start insulting other people that don't keep Shabbat. Khabibi 3 months ago you are driving on Shabbat more than they do. You might as well be a Uber driver. What are you making fun of them? They simply haven't gone to the point of knowledge of understanding they need to keep Shabbat and it's not just simply good to do. Another person is saying, "Oh, look at these people. They're dishonest in their business. They're cheating. They're lying." Yes, you're right. But don't forget that you used to take money from the shipping companies with all types of scams that you had. You don't remember? Oh, no. That was a year ago. You don't need to make fun of them. You can help them. Instead of making fun of them, you can help them. So, it's very easy to point fingers at other people and say they're not doing good. But the hardest is to point a finger at yourself and then see where do I stand versus what the holy Torah says. What do I do that's not good? How can I fix what I failed at? One of the ways I've told people many times that if they're so righteous in their own eyes that they DON'T KNOW WHAT TO FIX, I tell them whatever your spouse complains about, start there. Why? Your spouse knows you best. If she's constantly complaining that you're stingy or she's constantly complaining that you're angry or she's constantly complaining that you you're DOING SOMETHING ELSE, START THERE. WHY? SHE'S RIGHT. Hashem didn't send her to you just to annoy you with things that don't exist. We have to say, "Well, I'm not married, Rabbi." Okay, your co-workers, your siblings, your parents, the people that are close to you, they complain about the same thing over and over with you, right? They say, "Oh, you only think about yourself. Oh, you're so stingy. Oh, you're so this. You're so that." Whatever they say, "You're so this." More than once, go start there because apparently you're so righteous, you have forgotten what you do wrong. So, they're helping you. Hashem sent them to help you. But the reality is that pointing a finger at ourselves is the most difficult finger we could ever point because no one wants to see themsself as someone is doing things incorrectly. The same thing if somebody writes a book, you see the difference between the book that is writing versus any other book that you've ever read. The main difference is in the books that we read today, the bios about somebody's life story, their success, uh their ideas, whatever it is, usually they don't write about what they're not doing good, unless they're using it as a pedestal to show that they're doing much better. now is telling us the only reason I wrote this book is to fix myself. But since there were so many things that needed to be fixed, since there were so many things that needed to be remembered, I needed to write it down. I needed to write it down so I could check myself versus what I've learned. I could see what is an obligation on me that I'm doing and then I can thank I can thank Hashem for helping me do this because surely it's not just me. Hashem is helping me do it. And if I'm not doing it, I should see why am I failing at this? Why am I deviating from the rules of Hashem? Why am I distorting the truth? Here we see that Bak is trying to tell us that just because you're a learned person, just because you've learned a lot, does not give you any permission whatsoever to think enough is enough. I could park here. I could slow it down here. Why? There's always more. One of the great in the previous generation of Mosh, he went to a brit where there was other there as well. Among them was and this was on Shabbat. Now, it so happens that sometimes the the foreskin of the male member on the on the on the baby is connected too connected to the male member and they need to use a needle in order to separate it before the so they took a needle to separate it. Don't worry, the 8day old baby does not remember. Whenstein saw this, he yelled out, "HEY SHABBAT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" comes to the rav and says then why are you saying you yourself wrote in your book that this is allowed on such and such page. Oh thank you for reminding me. Yes. Yes. Now I remember knew the books of the many times better than they did. It's well known that who wrote the would call regularly asking him can you remind me where I wrote inv such and such and yes you wrote it on this book and that page and this but no one said that was the because of his memory. Certainly that was a plus but rather it was because of how much he toiled over the Torah. But from here we learn that a real a realm a person that wants to serve Hashem is not worried about his ego how people going to see this or this is embarrassing. I made a mistake. the contrary to that, the opposite. With the moment they realize they made a mistake, they're the first ones to admit it and correct it. Why? Because their whole point that they're in this world is to serve Hashem, not to serve themsel. And the same concept we see here in the he's saying that I wrote this book for myself because it will serve as my own personal yard stick where I can measure my own conduct versus the what's written here in this book. And each time I could look at oh wow look what he wrote here even though he WROTE IT HIMSELF. WOW. YES. AM I DOING IT? OH, I'm doing item. Thank you, Heashem. I'm fulfilling this mitzvah. And then continue reading. He says, "Oh, this one. Wait, no, I didn't do it. I distorted from the truth. I'm sorry, there's no embarrassment. There's no shame. There's simply how can I become better?" This is what I've told countless people that watch the shim. The ultimate purpose of all of these shim is inspire for you to become better. Not inspire you to change who you are. Inspire you to change to become a better version of yourself. About six months ago, I got a message from someone yelling at me that I spoke against the cash advance business. But of course, I don't take any of this stuff to heart. Whether it's compliments or it's insults, it's all the same. I understand that people have a and anytime you remind them that they're doing something wrong, they don't like to hear it. But this person was adamant to tell me how he felt. Adamant to tell me with a lot of descriptions and a lot of uh vulgar adjectives. Let's just say that. I provided him information. And instead of looking and reviewing the information, he used and he upped the stakes in cursing me out with some more vulgar words where I told him, you could either review the information and become enlightened to what the truth really is or you continue living an illusion that you live, believing that you're doing right by lending money with predatory interest rates. He finished off the conversation with an extra few curses and we parted ways in last week's youu. That's usually the only time I check the messages we get on social media. If somebody else on the team did not answer it, I see, oh, he sent me another uh message. Let's see what he has to say. Perhaps another couple of insults. And to my surprise, this person said, "I'm sorry, Rabbi, for how I spoke to you and mistreated you. You're 100% right about the cash advance business. I'm doing chuva and thanks to you, I'm also protecting my ble. Please forgive me." Now, of course, this is the greatest music in the world to my ear. Somebody's doing chuva. Somebody's leaving a corrupt business. Somebody's protecting their bre. This guy just gave me the lottery times three. Who cares about the insults and the curses and all that stuff? And the only reason I mention it to you is because look at how a person can turn around their life in a matter OF SIX MONTHS AFTER they got the seed that was planted started growing roots. Sometimes the seed is planted and it takes years for it to grow some fruits. sometimes only a few months, but certainly from the moment that he heard it, it bothered him. And before you know it, Akadbu made sure that it continues to bother him in more ways than another until he ended up realizing that the whole thing is truth. He left the cash advance business will build a successful legitimate business moving forward. And I gave him all the blessings under the sun to make sure that he has successm even though he's going through a very difficult time which is really one of the things that we try to help people avoid going through that hard time. You see, Hashem sends us messages in different ways. Sometimes he'll send you an easy, priceless message that doesn't cost you anything. like you heard something from the sh that applies to you to check yourself to do chuva to fix to review all of these different things. They're technically priceless truth of the and it doesn't cost you anything. But if a person hears the truth and ignores it, the next message that Hashem sends is usually much more difficult, much more expensive and much more lasting effect and usually there's a scar or two that comes with it. The is telling us here, I don't want these scars. I don't want to come up to shm to the bed of heaven as a criminal as someone that wrote one thing and did another. I want to be someone that is exerting all possible effort to fix myself while I'm here. And he says, "And I wanted to put the subject down in an enduring form to make of it a protected treasure, a light that will illuminate men's paths and show them the way on which they must travel. My hope was that it would be of use to others even more than myself, that it serve as a guide to others even more than meeting my own needs." after the completed the he realized he's not the only one that needs to do this others can do it too and perhaps they can do it better than him and he says I hope you do better than I do because I'm limited perhaps I fail at some of them but you can do the whole thing here we Another aspect of the sadik that's usually not something that people realize humility. Theim teach that the highest level of arrogance is false humility. A person that pretends to be a sadik pretends to be a sadic by their mannerisms, by choice of words they use, but in reality they're the opposite. Humility is not something that you can portray with just a few words. Humility is something with a person is either humble or they're not. Because the words that come out of their mouth came from their heart first. The Rebi Mits the closen rebi from time to time would give lectures and share some of his personal stories of what he went through during the Holocaust. In one of the videos that I watched of the closer telling a story, a shocking story of one of the things he went through in the Holocaust, the Nazis, Imam took them on a march. And many people knew that during these marches, many people did not survive. Either they died of hunger, thirst, or simply they were shot. In one of those times, the SSH took out a bunch of Jews off the line and put him to the side. The closen rebi was one of them. He told all of them to si to lay down. And the Rav says already at that moment I knew that this is it. And I was not afraid. I don't know why I wasn't afraid. He says, "But I was already ready for this." And I said, "My is with ready to meet my maker." As there are shots being fired, they killed 600 Jews for nothing. And then they got to me. And suddenly the SS soldier says get up go and join a line. And the closeni says anyone that does not realize the miracle that happened here does not understand what a miracle is. I don't know why such a miracle happened on my behalf. Certainly my father and mother were praying for me and my ancestors were praying for me in the betin of heaven. Perhaps my mom simply fell on our face in front of the kisakot pleading for mercy for our son. Perhaps the only merit that I had was to give you this lecture today many years later. Meaning that sadik is NOT COUNTING HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. RATHER, he's clueless. At what merit does he possibly have to warrant such an open miracle? And he's saying it with a full mouth without any type of prepared lines or any type of like uh you know wink wink. It's maybe it's something else cuz really I'm righteous. He has no idea why he got such a big miracle. We from our perspective realize he's a sadik. He's kadesh. Look what he did before, during, after the Holocaust. But from his perspective, I'm just serving Hashem. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. The is showing us that this type of mentality where the prophet Job says that even if you are righteous, what can you possibly give Hashem? It's all for you. as the saying, don't celebrate and think of yourself as much because you know A LOT OF BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE created for. But yet in the world today because people are unaware of what makes a person righteous and what doesn't, many people fall into traps of the Nadikan town. Why? because they see a lot of Tik Tok videos or YouTube videos and they see he has a lot of views and they see he has a lot of likes or they see he has a poster that says that Sadik is coming to town or they say he's a mubal or they say he's this they say he's that and in reality in order for us to know who's a sadik and who's not without getting to know them and their actions we have to know what did the sadikim actually Say now of breast shalom. Many people use his writings in order to justify their behavior and unfortunately many distort his writings in order to justify their evil. For example, there was recently someone that many people consider a sadik that was exposed as a person that has a lust for money above and beyond even Elon Musk. How do you know? Simply, you hear the person talk about it, saying all types of strange things, strange behavior. Now what's the problem of having a lust for money? They say wait this is uh this is wealth from holiness. Well Khabibi the same of breast that you're trying to quote didn't exactly define it and describe it and behave towards it the way you do. where someone wants to give you $10,000 and YOU START SAYING, "OH, I have this money. How I feel great." That's not a normal behavior for a normal person. Certainly not a sadik. And of says the following in the he says there are three character traits that destroy is also another name for the heart because the is the center and the heart is the center. And these three character traits destroy the heart. meaning they destroy the fear of heaven that's in the heart. These three character traits and what are they? The lust for money, the lust for food and the lust for women. These three midot are all in the heart says of breast. And if one has them, either all of them or one of them, it destroys the fear, the real fear of heaven that they're supposed to have. Because as said, the blessing of Hashem, that's what make you wealthy. That the blessing for money comes from Hashem, not because you have lust for it. And if you have lust for it, then you're just like the says in he has 100, he wants 200. He has 200, he wants 400. Somebody shows you some money and all of a sudden you mutate into some type of monster. You have a lust for money. If somebody starts talking business and all of a sudden you forget who's next to you, who, what, when, and how, you're already zeroing in on the new on the new target. WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GET YOUR MONEY? You have a lust for money. If you're doing a business deal with somebody, you have a new customer and during the business deal or right after you found out this customer has a lot more money than you thought and all of a sudden you're like finding out trying to figure out how you could finagle how you could fool this person to giving you more than what was originally agreed. Originally, you everyone was under the assumption that you'll take $200 a day. Now that you found out that this customer has more, all of a sudden you want $2,000 a day. WELL, HE HAS IT. SO, what if he has it? You agreed to 200? YEAH, I AGREED TO 200 because I thought that's all he had. Oh, so you means that you're just selling him for a higher price just because you think you can. In today's world, if you can find one person, one person that's honest in business that actually says what he does and does what he say, you deserve a present. Why? It's a miracle. It will be a miracle to find anyone that's honest in business today. I can tell you that I'm not just talking about my former life when I was on Wall Street and did over a billion dollars in business with all types of people from all over the world. I'm talking about even as a rabbi running this organization for the last 12 years. We do a lot of different business, contracts, agreements, all types of things. All of the years I'VE DEALT WITH THOUSANDS AMONG THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE in business. I HAVE YET TO FIND A SINGLE PERSON IN any profession. Doctors, lawyers, construction workers, consultants, whatever you can imagine, yet one one that actually does what he says and says what he does. I have yet to find one honest person. Why? People have accustomed themselves to lying so much that they forgot they're even lying. It became simply part of their character. As soon as they find out they can get more, they'll do it. They'll do it. Why? They have a lust for money. People have a lust for money. And unfortunately, this is not just the secular world. You see in Jewish magazines that are supposed to be orthodox magazines that are supposed to be religious magazines, how this has become part of society both from and not. You open a magazine, you see advertisements of different articles of all types of luxurious things from here to next year which again if people have the money enjoy but every ad is about more luxury, more showoff. Then you look at the articles. The articles look at the teacher that has eight houses. Why do I need to look at the teacher that has eight houses? What? So the next teacher that doesn't have eight houses could be jealous of her and complain to her boss that she doesn't get paid enough. That she complained to Hashem that she doesn't have the same fortune. Look at the construction worker that build an empire WORTH $100 MILLION. WHY DO I NEED TO LOOK AT HIM? Why do I need to know this article? This has become customary in every community, Jew and non-Jew. The amount of lust for money that's being thrown at the faces of people is literally beyond anything we can imagine. You see weddings today, people are holding weddings, bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah, spending enough money to buy a house just for what? for one day. For not even one day, FOR A FEW HOURS TO FEED A bunch of people that YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW MOST of the time. Why? To show off. To show off that you could afford a $50,000 bar made of ice. The bar is made out of ice AND IT'S GOING TO MELT AT THE END OF THE NIGHT. YOU CAN'T EVEN TAKE IT HOME. BUT YOU WANT TO SPEND THE $50,000 ON THE BAR SO YOU COULD SHOW EVERYBODY THAT YOU COULD JUST THROW MONEY AWAY. What is this lust for money? It's not just having it. It's showing it off. People have become accustomed to ending every business deal with a gamble. Oh, I'm going to buy this jewelry from you. I'm going to buy this watch. How much? 50,000? 45,000? They go back and forth for an half an hour about $5,000 they're arguing over. AND THEN AFTER THEY'VE AGREED, OKAY, I'M GONNA pay you 48,000, they finally GOT TO THE DEAL. OKAY, LET'S FLIP. WE'LL flip a coin or play some cards, one hand for either the whole thing or zero. Wait, you just negotiated for a half hour just to save an extra couple of thousand. And just like that on the coin flip, you're willing to gamble $50,000? Are you that stupid? Did you fall on your head on the way to this deal? And this is not just in jewelry, it's in clothing, it's in uh cars, it's in every business. Gambling and disrespect for the gift that Hashem gives people of money has become standard. Why? Everyone has become so lustful for money that if I DON'T HAVE ALL OF IT, I DON'T WANT ANYTHING. This is a curse that we're putting on ourselves. And says of breast, if you have a lust for money, then don't think for a moment that you're at sadik. Don't think for a moment that you can be at sadik. Don't think for A MOMENT THAT YOU have any FEAR OF HASHEM. WHY? LUST FOR MONEY. NO FEAR OF HEM. WHY? The fear of hashem is in your heart. Lust of money makes your heart rotten. Same thing goes with food. If every two seconds you're thinking, "What are I gonna eat? Oh, we're going to go to that restaurant. Yeah, well, that one I made reservations from it three months ago." If you put your name on some reservation list to a restaurant, a month in advance, two months in advance, you, my friend, have a very serious lust FOR MONEY, HONOR, AND FOOD. All three. Why? You're an idiot. You want to eat, go find a place that's open or order some food or cook. Why are you acting like as if there's uh this IS THE BETA MIKDASH YOU HAD TO MAKE reservations for? THE BETA MIKDASH DID NOT NEED RESERVATIONS. But that's what happens when people have lost their mind and have simply put their brain on pause and are simply acting with lustful hearts. says of breast, you have a lust for money. You have a lust for food. You have a lust for women. It's not enough for you that you're married to one wife. It's not enough for you that you're married to one husband. It's not enough for you. You want to look at this one. You want to touch this one. You want to do this. You want to do that. Even if you learn Tawra all day, you do not have why those three lusts are in the heart. Fear of Hashem is also in the heart. The two cannot coexist. They cannot coexist. And if that wasn't enough says of breast in for a person to have complete divine providence meaning where Hashem is with them at all TIMES CANNOT happen until he breaks the lust for money which requires giving lots Daka showing that you know where the money comes from Hashem for in case you didn't know and being his partner by distributing it to his people to help the needy to help publicize Torah using the money not JUST SO YOU COULD buy more fancy watches and cars and uh six months reservations to a restaurant that you're not even sure if it's any good. You want to have divine providence. You want to have a where is literally next to you at all times. It cannot happen says of breast until you break the lust for money. And if that was enough in says the main part of fixing the lust for money is because once he fixes the bleet HE CANNOT FALL BACK INTO THE LUST OF money again. The main part of fixing the lust for money is tikunit because once he fixes the breit, he cannot fall back into the lust of money. So if you SEE THIS NEW SADIC ON THE block that has a lot of Tik Tok videos or wants to charge you $15,000 just to show up or give you a book or a blessing or that that you're not even sure what he's even saying or what he wrote. If you see that somebody says this guy's a sadik, but yet everything he does is always about money. Everything he does is always about money. Then guess what? It doesn't only mean that he has a lust for money. Sadly, it also means he hasn't fixed his bre either. He could be looking at your wife. He could be looking at your daughter. He could be looking at your next door neighbor that's single or married. He could be and THEY SAW IT ON CAMERA too that he was. You want to call him a sadic. Do what you want. Freedom of speech they call it. But the reality is the real sadikim wrote exactly what is required and what ruins everything. int says due to the confusion and the unclarity as a result of the lust of money person that has a lust of money is always confused. He's not clear of what he wants to do because he always wants to get more stuff. Another building, another this, another that, another, another, more, more. causes confusion causeity says of breast live. Because of this confusion and unclarity as a result of the lust of money, the number of haters that he has grow and these haters will not hate him for no reason. THEY'LL ACTUALLY HAVE VALID REASONS TO HATE HIM. So if you see that somebody all of a sudden has a bunch of enemies all of a sudden you see this person is beloved by the ignoramises but hated by anybody that knows anything strange. WHY WOULD YOU EAT A SADIK? Says lust for money. The nama knows their na knows what the body doesn't. And if that wasn't enough, we go to Rabman of grandfather the baltov. And the balmto says on taleim chapter 36 verse number four. one of the most profound things I've ever read in my life. It's scary, but it's true. And it's scary because it's true, says the BMT. There are two types of people that are wicked. One is rashagamu, complete wicked person that knows his creator but still betrays him. And the second wicked person is one that the closes his eyes meaning that person's eyes and gives him the illusion that he's a complete sadic. And he even looks like a sadic in the eyes of people. But in truth is that even though he learns Torah and he has his personal sufferings, he doesn't get to the to the high level that he thinks because all of his servitude does not really cleave to Hashem and he does not really have amuna in Hashem in order to be close to him at all times. Why? Because all of this amuna All of this learning is disturbed by his lust for money, his lust for women, his lust for food, all types of things. So even though he may be learning Torah, even though he may be doing different THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE A RIGHTEOUS PERSON, in reality, fake news, why? He doesn't have really. You cannot have a hashem and have lust for money at the same time. But he doesn't know how to do the mitzvot form shamim rather he DOES WHAT HE DOES FOR HIS OWN self and the difference between these two people listen to what the baltov is saying here the difference between these two wicked people remember one was a completely wicked he knows HIS CREATOR AND STILL GOES AGAINST HIM THE OTHER ONE IS A FAKE SADI THE OTHER ONE HE LOOKS LIKE A SADIK. PEOPLE CALL HIM A SADIK. THEY THINK HE'S A SADIK. He thinks he's a sadik. WHAT'S THE difference between those two people? The difference is says the balm that the can actually do chuva repent AND RETURN BY CHANGING HIS WAYS. But the second one IS UNFIXABLE. WITHOUT THE HELP OF HASHEM. WHY? BECAUSE THIS SECOND one that's a fake sadik, HE IS CERTAIN IN HIS MIND THAT he's a sadik and the convinces him to do sins by making him think that HE'S DOING MITZVOT. HE STARTS CREATING his own rules. He starts inventing things, does things that are against the Torah, BUT SAYS, "NO, THIS IS IN THE name of No, this is a uh this is in the name of uh uh such and such." In reality, has nothing to do with or such and such. The convinces him to do sins, but makes him feel like it's mitzvot. And when he gets sick, when that fake gets sick, the makes him pray to Hashem, asking Hashem for a cure BECAUSE OF THE MITZVAH THAT HE DID, BUT THEY'RE REALLY SINS. AND THEN THE GOES UP TO HASHEM AND SAYS, "LOOK, HE EVEN ADMITS HE MADE THESE SINS. HE EVEN ADMITS THAT HE PUT THE NAME OF HASHEM on his tal or that he stood in front of THE CORDESH WITH HIS BACK TO THE cordesh or his or his face was ON A TALIT OR ALL TYPES OF UH THINGS THAT HE TAUGHT TO THE WORLD LIKE HASHEM NEEDS YOU AND HASHEM HAS AN ARM and all types OF STRANGE THINGS. LOOK, HE'S EVEN ADMITTING HE SAYS THAT THESE ARE MITZVOT HE'S A LIAR. WHY? because the wants to use this against him to completely destroy him. Just like the says in page 16 that the has multiple jobs. First, he's the to entice you to sin. Second, he prosecutes against you Satan. Third is that comes to kill you. So here we see what the baltov and of breast are telling us here. If your hero has a lust for money, you see him dress that way, you see him look that way, talk that way, act that way, he's not a sadik. He has a long way to go and hopefully he's not the second type of rash that we talked here. Maybe he'll have more hope to do chuva. But if you have a lust for money, you have a lust for women, you have a lust for all types of materialism, it's going to be impossible for you to tell who does or doesn't because you're in it yourself. You can't tell somebody else that he smells bad if you're sitting in inside manure. So the is trying to tell us stop living a dream first. Instead of looking at everybody else that they need to fix and they need to fix, look in the mirror and say he needs to fix, she needs to fix. Oh, the person I see in the mirror. Now, of course, some people here are going to take this to heart and apply it and beem get stronger as a result, but without a doubt, there's always going to be somebody or somebody's that instead of taking it to heart, they'll take offense or they'll simply ignore it because it's inconvenient for them because they don't really want to live the truth. And Schlam Melik says in Colet in chapter 4 verse number 16, this too is vanity and chasing of the wind. Which is trying to teach us that there are some people that don't want the truth. [snorts] And because they don't want the truth, they end up spending their life, their efforts, and their resources chasing the wind. And they end up getting nothing as a result. We have to first fix ourselves up. Each and every single person has to look in the mirror each day and ask themselves, "How can I become better today than I was yesterday? better in the way I pray. Better in the way that I learn Torah, better in the way that I treat my family members, better in the way that I treat my customers, my bosses, better in the way that I connect to Hashem, better in the way that I conduct business. How could I become better? Not just better as a for the sake of making a bigger profit or bigger impression on people so they can tell me, "Wow, you've changed in a positive way." not for that but better because I know to become better that means that I'm serving Hashem better and if I'm be if I'm serving Hashem better that means that I'm being a good student a good student of who? a good student of the Torah that I'm learning. And that's why we should all be our own best student because whatever you learn before you preach it to others, do it yourself and you'll see the world around you change. This Abu Tayim is some of the things that we learned and I think it's powerful enough for everyone to watch at least a hundred times including myself because this is the type of Torah that could change not just your day your week but your entire life if you simply apply what the is trying to teach us here. Thank you very much for learning with me. May Hashem give each and every single one of you the success that's necessary and the kak the strength necessary to fulfill every word that was said here and beadm will open up our eyes to see who are the real righteous people and one day look in the mirror and say ah that's the righteous one thank you very much and bzadm will learn again later this week possibly next week there may not be a on Wednesday But will come back here on Sunday called tow. >> This is not an award. It's much more than that. What is it? It's the candid platinum seal of transparency. There are 1.8 million nonprofits in the United States. Less than 1% of them are recognized at the highest tier of financial program transparency of platinum. Bashem for the third year in a row. Bezem is one of them. What is it? This candid platinum seal of transparency is where an organization publishes publicly not just its financials and governance, but verified program outcomes, numbers that have to be reproven every single year. Most nonprofits our size don't even apply. Documentation is demanding. The accountability is uncomfortable. But we pursue it because you deserve to know exactly what your support is doing. What did your support do in the year 2025? Here's what your support did this past year, and it was verified by Candid. 238,000 Jewish individuals were fed or financially assisted. Over 15,000 Torah lectures and 500 Torah films were produced and distributed across 23 channels and 15 languages. 280,000 free by Rabbi Fry Kaklon and myself were distributed worldwide for free, up from 150,000 the year before. 2.3 million outreach materials were given out free of charge like the Aelatsar and USB CDs. All of this Hashem was funded almost entirely by individual donors just like yourself. No foundation grants, just people like you who watched our videos, got inspired and decided to do something with us. Why do we pursue this? In Judaism, we say that a person is judged not by what they do once, but what they do consistently. Earning platinum once shows that you can prepare a good report. Earning it three years in a row proves it's how we actually operate. When you give Bzad Hashem your donations, you're not just trusting us. You're trusting a system that's been audited, verified, and made public three times over. And your trust is something that we hold very dear. We don't take it lightly. One of the most amazing things we have now is the kirutore.org where people can order free books and other materials. But in addition to that, we also have real time numbers of what we've done. So you could actually see that the numbers have gone up much more since this report was officially granted to us last year. If you want to be part of what we're building, go to bezem.org/donate. The link is going to be in the description. And you want to see exactly where every dollar is being used. Our full candid profile is also going to be linked below. See it for yourself. And if you know someone who's been waiting to support a Torah outreach organization that actually proves what it does with people's donations, share this video with them. Thank you for the three years of trust and we keep going. When we do this, we do this together.