Transcript
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Can you explain why rebat and kazad
vance is forbidden
if it is for towards non-Jews? Okay. So
I mean I've I've made several lectures
about this. I have uh many lectures on
my channel about cash advance. So for
more extensive answer, I would recommend
you go watch those lectures and you'll
find out more. Now there's a few parts
to it. It's not something I could answer
in two seconds. It's it's a whole shu or
I've made many shulim about it talking
about different parts of it. uh anyone
that wants to study the answer
completely from a sephil I could send
you the sephil uh send you the book and
you can read it with yourself or with
your rabbi or
um
it's put it this way the chuva that uh
rabb wrote in the
is so conclusive that we have already
publicly stated many times over the
years that we're willing to pay anybody
$100,000 000 cash if they're able to
write a chuva, like a legitimate chuva
that shows that it's allowed to do cash
advance
and prove our answer wrong. That's our
conclusive. We've sent this book many to
many that initially thought that cash
advance is not a problem. Every single
one of them that has read the cha has
agreed and said no, it's 100% forbidden.
every single one with no with no
questions. The only ones that remain in
disagreement are ones that simply not
read the cha and just decide that they
agree because they want to agree because
they benefit from it. But every that has
actually read this chuva a you know
arrives at the conclusion without any
doubts.
Now there's a couple of things. Number
one,
when uh somebody is in a dire situation
and comes to the cash advance business
and uh says I want to borrow 100,000 or
100 million or whatever it is
uh
they present it as if listen he wants to
make a lot more money out of it and
therefore he's willing to pay the
interest. he's signing off on it and
he's not Jewish, obviously if he's
Jewish, you're not allowed to to lend
the money with a anyway. But if he's not
Jewish, they think that they're allowed.
So number one, the person that's signing
the contract to borrow the money at 70
80 90%.
He is someone that you compare to
somebody that's gambling. And everyone
knows that gambling is not allowed
according to the Torah uh and according
to the sages for many reasons. One of
them being was is that the loser
does not want to give the money to the
winner. It's against his will. Even
though he gives him the money
and he technically agreed to those rules
before he sat and played the game. When
he actually does lose, he gives the
money against his in against his will.
He doesn't. And had he known that he
would lose for sure, meaning there would
be a 0% for him to uh to win, then he
would not play. So when he gives him the
money as a loss, he gives it to him
against his will. And therefore,
gambling is considered stealing. Now
when the person signs a contract uh in
the cash advance business as a customer,
they are
not agreeing to these terms of 70%
in in a way where they're uh thinking
that there's a chance for them to lose.
Meaning they're assuming that either
their deal,
their investment is going to work out so
well that and so quickly that they're
never going to have to pay this 70%.
They're going to pay back faster or
they're going to make 500% and it's
worth it for them to make 70% and so on.
So in essence, when they're signing it,
they're not signing it with a uh uh anic
uh permit uh a uh acceptable way that
this is really what they're uh they're
paying. They're they're signing off on.
This is again a
minimization of that issue. There's a
whole uh section of the chuva actually
two sections about that chuva that
explains this part which again like I
said a to to really understand it you
have to understand what what loca is and
kanya is it's different terms and again
we have it available there's a chuva
that we could send it's on our website
uh uh for free I could send you the hard
copy of the book for free it's not it's
not uh being hidden but that's one part
the second part is is that you're not
allowed to lend to give somebody
something that is destructive to them.
Okay. The reason why highinterest
lending which is
anything in today's and mathematically
speaking anything above
30 35%
is already at a stage where you could
already start calling it uh uh
predatory. Why is it called predatory?
because it the interest is so much
higher than people actually understand
that you literally um are going to be
destroyed by this uh by the interest.
Now in the cash advance business they
don't charge 35%. They don't even charge
40%. The guy that I was talking to he
says he charges 70% or more
in some cases much higher than that. So
charging somebody 70%
and thinking that that's honest business
is is is is obviously not. That's it's
it's obviously foolishness. So to give
somebody something that is so predatory,
that's so destructive to them that for
him to succeed, he has to now pay you
170,000 instead of a 100,000. Which
means that his business has to more than
double within a short period of time,
which is unrealistic.
Therefore, it's not only unethical, but
it is completely forbidden in every
society. And the only reason it's being
allowed within the cash advance business
is only because of a loophole. Like if
you go to a bank that is regulated by
the government, they cannot lend anybody
money for 70%.
The only reason why the cash advance
industry is able to do it is because of
a loophole, not because uh that it's
legal. And that's why the government and
in New York and other places is cracking
down on it and putting people behind
bars and looking for different issues
and looking to shut this business down.
So, it's predatory lending has had its
uh reappearance throughout history since
the beginning of time.
So to go and give something some to
someone that is against their interest
is forbidden.
Furthermore,
if a person looks at the statistics
without being optimistic or pessimistic,
simply looking at the statistics
of predatory lending in general, you
would see that the majority of the
people that take these loans for 60% and
70% and 100% and so on end up losing
end up losing. losing. So it's not just
like we fear that they will lose. It's a
reality that they will lose. And in many
cases they lose everything. They start
off with a $10,000 loan and they end up
owing $100,000 or 200,000 meaning amount
of money that's beyond their worst
nightmares.
Because when they cannot pay that 17,000
that it started off with 10 turning into
17, they have to now refinance into a
new loan, but now the next loan now
balloons into 50,000, a h 100,000. In so
many words, what started off as a
innocent mistake turns out to be
hundreds and hundreds of thousands of
dollars. Another thing is
when
somebody's willing to be unethical, when
somebody's willing to act like a like
like a like a uh alligator, like a
monster, that means in one way, they
they won't do in other ways. So many of
the different policies and standard
business practices within the cash
advance business are based on lying to
customers of what they're really
charging them. They're not telling them
they're really charging them, you know,
uh 50% or 80%. They're telling them,
"No, no, no. We're only charging you 3%
a week. That's it. 3%." So the customer
thinks, "Oh, so this is 3%. So, okay, so
3% a week." And he does uh, you know,
incorrect math because he doesn't know
what does it mean 3% a day, 3% a week,
3% a month. He doesn't really understand
that it actually translates into
hundreds of percent.
So they lie about what they're actually
doing.
Third or fifth or sixth, whatever it is,
they have different policies within the
industry where they have a the ability
that if the person does not pay them on
time, they could take over all of his
assets within 24 hours. Now, this is not
in every loan and this is not
everywhere, but it does happen often
enough that there's plenty of articles
about it.
So, and that's another way that they
steal money from people. And there's
many, many other reasons. The point I'm
trying to tell you is that
Schlomik [snorts]
forbid anyone from lending money with
interest to the nations
because of this business 3,000 years
ago, just called something else.
Every major Jewish disaster that we've
had in the last couple thousand years
before that disaster happened, the
number one business that was prospering
for the Jews before it was this business
just called something else. In the end,
it's highinterest lending to the
Gentiles brought disaster to the Jewish
people. So history has shown us that
this business is a disaster for society,
for people, for for for uh uh for the
Jewish people.
Another thing that you'll see in a chuva
is what different have said throughout
history about this industry of high
interest lending. It says this not only
brings anti-semitism,
but this bringse
and worst of it all, a person that lends
money with eye interest to to thee is
considered af
is someone that's trying to kill you.
And if someone is trying to kill you,
you're allowed to kill them. Why is why
is somebody that's in the business
called a according to some? because he's
bringing so much hatred
to the nation that it's as if he's
trying to kill the nation.
And
one of the common sense ways that the
have explained of why this is so bad, he
said if you are living in America, in
England, in Australia, obviously that's
not your home.
It's the Gim's home.
It's the American home. It's the
Australians home. It's the English home.
It's the French home. And they're
allowing you to live among them,
which obviously you owe them a gratitude
for allowing you to live in peace in
their country, in their land.
So when you as a Jew
that is supposed to say thank you to the
non-Jew for allowing you to live in
peace in their country instead of saying
thank you are cheating them in business
or giving THEM A PRODUCT THAT IS
predatory
you are an ungrateful
horrible person
and in fact Rashi wrote
You are strengthening Amalik with every
transaction.
Instead of saying thank you to the
Gentile that is allowing you to live in
peace in their country,
you are taking advantage of them.
And you know if you've been in the
business for at least a year, you know
what the history of your customers are.
you without even reading the book.
How do you know? Simple. LOOK AT WHAT
HAPPENED to your customer after a year.
You have, let's say, 10 customers you
got in the first month [snorts] and then
you continue getting more customers each
month. Do yourself the service and
look at what happened to the lives and
business of those 10 customers on the
average after a year.
And every single broker in that business
that I've spoken to that was honest told
me, "Rabbi, everything you're saying is
100% right. The average person loses and
not only loses, loses a lot as a result
of that.
But where else am I going to make a h
100,000 a month?"
And the answer they all get is, "I don't
care where you're going to make 100,000
a month. And in fact, I don't think
you're going to make $100,000 a month.
in a different business, at least not
right away. BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER.
YOU'RE RUINING PEOPLE'S LIVES.
Just because you want to make money
doesn't mean you're allowed to be a
hitman.
So a person
could do one of two one of three things.
one they want to want to study the
reason that is conclusive that's
indisputable
according to the according to the
according to the according to all
opinions there's no once you read the
you will see there's no debate
whatsoever that cash advance business IS
AGAINST THE TORAH NOT AGAINST THE RABBIS
AGAINST THE TORAH AND YOU EVERYONE
that's in the business that's supporting
the business that's even silent
knowingly
and accepting donations from that
business knowing that IT'S COMING FROM
THERE ALL OF THEM WILL BE PUNISHED
endlessly
as a result of it anyone that wants to
learn the read the you will see it and
your eyes will open and then it'll be
easier for you hopefully to make a
decision to realize that you have to run
away from this business and pretty much
spend the rest of your life
fixing your mistake.
Option two,
you don't want to read the answer, but
you want to know for sure that it's bad.
Simple. LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR
CUSTOMERS. AND DON'T TELL ME, "NO,
LISTEN, I LENT THIS ONE GUY $100 MILLION
AND HE DOUBLED IN LAST YEAR." I'M NOT
TALKING ABOUT THIS oneoff situations.
I'm talking about average
STATISTICAL AVERAGE WHAT HAPPENED? YOU
HAVE a 100 customers. What happened to
the majority of them and not just 51%.
Majority even more than that. You will
see it ends up destroying them. It ends
up hurting them.
This is not some statistic I made up.
IT'S A REALITY THAT EVERYONE knows and
is undeniable.
any news nation, any journal, any uh
financial experts that have discussed
this industry calls it predatory lending
for a reason throughout all of history.
No one calls something predatory if
there's a chance, STATISTICAL CHANCE,
THAT IT'S GOOD. Only reason it exists is
because people are greedy. That's it.
It's not good for the economy. It's not
good for the customers. is not good for
anyone other than the greedy people that
simply do it.
So
you don't want to look at the reason,
look at what you're doing to people's
lives. Are you okay
with ruining people's lives?
If you are,
you'll simply deal with the consequences
that come eventually because don't
forget, Hashem runs the world. And
eventually, he will pay you the
punishment that will literally make your
worst nightmares
look like good dreams.
One example that just was reported to me
by one of my students that told me that
one guy in the business
lost his wife and kids in a single day.
All of them died. And the rabbis told
them, "It's because you're in A CASH
ADVANCE BUSINESS." THESE ARE some of the
few rabbis that actually
tell people to run away from it.
When I told this story to the guy that I
met in the cash advance business this
week, he told me, "Yeah, I know the guy.
I know him personally." He gave me his
name. Whatever. Point is that I said,
"Listen, I don't know. Somebody told me
about it and I figured I'd share with
you and you happen to know the guy."
Goes, "Yeah, the story is true. They uh
[sighs]
he lost his wife again. He's he's uh big
in the cash advance business." What do
you think? This is just it it happened
that way. It's a chance. No, you look at
look at what happens. Eventually, people
that are in bad businesses that are
hurting society, that are hurting
people, people that are doing bad
things, eventually they will pay the
bill. Hashem runs the world. So, if you
don't care about ruining people's lives,
don't cry when Hashem ruins your life to
such a point that your average day
is a nightmare of all nightmares.
And remember, that's just the punishment
you're getting in this world. What
you're going to get in the next world is
much worse. Much worse. If you have any
interest in seeing some of the details,
watch my film called Ghom. After that,
watch the movie I made I made called uh
uh
that is what the future looks like for
those people
without a doubt. I say this with
zero doubt in my mind
and it's not my opinion. You look at the
chuva, you look at what the sages said,
no one can dispute it.
Opinions, opinions are worthless.
People's ability to debate useless. In
the world of Torah, we have truth, we
have false based on what the Torah says,
not based on how you want to manipulate
it and how you want to understand it.
There is a way to understand things
based on what the wrote. That's option
two.
Option three, completely ignore
reality
of hurting people. completely ignore the
ala that says it's forbidden.
Ignore and continue in the business and
suffer the consequences.
When the consequences will happen, I
don't know. I don't run the world.
Hashem does. He doesn't tell me.
To that guy last week or two weeks ago,
apparently his punishment started and
it's for sure not over.
For other people, Hashem may let them
continue
earning more and more punishments for
the rest of their lives or for a few
more months. But I promise you,
no doubt that they will all be punished
in this world and the next because the
Mishna says someone that desecrates
Hashem's name in private will be
punished in public.
They're all doing it in offices. They're
all doing it behind the scenes. They're
all doing it pretending that they're
helping people because they give some
charity sometimes because they think
that they're helping. In reality,
everyone that's in the business knows
it's corrupt.
And that's it. Three options available
to whoever is in the business. You want
to ruin this world and the next world
for yourself, continue in the business.
Continue ignoring reality. You want to
know why it's against the Torah, you
have the you could simply send me a text
message or an email. I could send you
the book or you could go to my website
bzashem.org.
Over there there is a uh uh free
educational PDFs or in books you could
it's in there. There's one of the uh
books that's there. You could uh there's
two books that this chuva is in. You
could download one or the other.
And if you want a hard copy of the book,
send me a message. What's your address?
I'll send it to you. I'll send it to you
free. I'll even pay for it.
Meaning, you have to think about this.
What do I have to gain here?
All of this has brought me, like all of
the other wars, is only a headache.
What do I care about people doing cash
advance? Do I have some type of stock
and their loss? No.
Why would I fight so hard
against this? If I have no benefit
whatsoever and only a downside, if I was
looking for my own personal interest,
I'd tell everybody it's allowed.
Tell them, "Do whatever you want and
just donate the money to me.
But I don't. So why am I speaking
against it so often?
Because like we said in the lecture,
there's
that doesn't say anything. Those are the
rabbis that stay silent even though they
know that this is bad. Then there's the
tells you about the dangers of your
sins.
I don't think about my personal
interest. I think about people's
interest.
I invest in Jews. I invest in people
doing chuva. If that means that some
people will listen and some people will
go against, then so be it.
And so be it. You have to understand I
have no benefit whatsoever
in doing any of this.
Not in people being in the business, not
people leaving the business.
But we do what we do because that's what
the Torah commands us to do. So if
you're going to be in the business,
you have to make sure that
you either have a reason to do it that's
allowed according to
or you simply decide I don't care about
I don't believe in I don't believe in a
Torah
and suffer the consequences that come
with that.
Simple. Uh, I didn't really want to
spend so much time on this question, but
this is one of those issues where it
boggles my mind how evil can people be.
Boggles my mind. How evil people can be
that they're
simply decide that
their personal interest
is
so valuable to them that they're willing
to destroy people's lives in the
process.
To me, it's no different than a
murderer. It's no different than Nazis.
I know people going to criticize, oh,
how could you call Jews Nazis? If you
are in that business, you're not
different than a Nazi. If you're in that
business and you don't care about
destroying people's lives, you're not.
What distinguishes you and a Nazi?
OH, HE KILLED. YES, YOU'RE ALSO
DESTROYING PEOPLE'S LIVES.
Maybe not in the same way, in a vicious
part, but it's a vicious thing. It's a
vicious thing.
HOW CAN YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SO
EVIL?
There has to be a limit.
THERE HAS TO BE A LIMIT SOMEWHERE THAT
OKAY, FINE. YOU WANT TO DO SOME BAD
THINGS. YOU WANT TO GO WITH THIS GIRL.
YOU WANT to go gamble. You want to go
violate Shabbat. You want to GO CERTAIN
THINGS. I UNDERSTAND PEOPLE HAVE TABOT.
I LIVED AS A SECULAR person most of my
life. I UNDERSTAND that there's DESIRES
AND LUST. BUT HOW EVIL CAN A PERSON BE?
HOW CAN FALL TO SUCH A LEVEL?
HOW HOW DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF ON A
REGULAR BASIS? YOU WAKE UP IN THE
MORNING AND YOU GO TO OFFICE AND DESTROY
PEOPLE'S LIFE. HOW CAN YOU ALLOW
YOURSELF TO LIVE THAT WAY? HOW HOW CAN
YOU KISS YOUR KIDS GOOD NIGHT EVERY
NIGHT? SAY, YOU KNOW, you're having A
DINNER WITH YOUR WIFE AND KIDS WITH WITH
A NORMAL HEAD, KNOWING YOU JUST
DESTROYED SOMEBODY'S LIFE by lending
your money and and the guy not realizing
he's going to LITERALLY HAVE TO BORROW
50 TIMES just to hopefully one day break
even if he doesn't declare bankruptcy.
He has to literally win the lotto to get
out of this hole you put him in. How can
you live with yourself? The guy worked
for 10, 20 years to build a business. He
has employees. They all depend on their
salary. They all depend on the product.
And you're going to destroy it because
you want to make a 10, 20, $30,000
commission. How can you live with
yourself? How greedy CAN YOU POSSIBLY
BE? THERE'S SO many easy ways to make
money in the world. IF I WENT BACK INTO
THE BUSINESS, I CAN GUARANTEE YOU WITHIN
THE FIRST YEAR, DOESN'T MATTER WHAT
BUSINESS YOU PUT ME IN, I'LL MAKE SEVEN
FIGURES. IT'S SO EASY TO MAKE MONEY. WHY
DO YOU HAVE TO DO IT? DESTROYING
PEOPLE'S LIVES.
WHY? WHY? YOU CAN'T SELL ANYTHING ELSE.
YOU'RE SUCH A YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING
HONEST.
WHY CAN'T YOU DO HONEST BUSINESS?
THERE'S SO MANY WAYS TO MAKE MONEY WITH
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, WITH SELLING
KOSHER PRODUCTS, WITH BEING IN ALL TYPES
of businesses in real estate and stocks
and and in in insurance, in basic
businesses. You could trade businesses.
YOU COULD DO SO MANY THINGS TO make
money from home, FROM AN OFFICE.
LITERALLY, YOU HAVE TO BE NOT
TO MAKE MONEY IN THIS ECONOMY. WHY DO
YOU HAVE TO DO IT IN A DISHONEST
DISHONEST WAY? WHY DESTROY PEOPLE'S
LIVES?
[screaming] COME ON.
IT BOGGLES MY MIND.
IF YOU PUT YOUR EFFORT INTO SOMETHING,
YOU'LL SUCCEED.
YES, people have different skills. YES,
PEOPLE HAVE bad timing, good timing. I
understand.
But it's you don't need to cheat. You
don't need to cheat.
You just need to have persistence,
patience,
PERSISTENCE, AND PATIENCE.
That's it.
That's all you need.
You don't need to cheat. You don't need
to steal from anybody.
You don't need to ruin people's lives.
It's not right.
It's evil.
And my whole life, even before I did
chuva and started teaching Torah, I've
always hated evil. I've always hated
evil people. I've always hated people
that steal, people that destroy lives. I
remember in the brokerage business,
people literally would take money from
people, telling them they're investing
in stuff, and in reality, they're not
investing it. They're stealing it or
they're buying things and and churning
the accounts. And I hated those people.
I hated those people with a with a
passion
when they offered me deals to do. So I
come to them, literally laughed in their
face,
one guy I remember early on in my career
in 2003,
said, "Listen, you come work for me on
your first day, I'm giving you $7
million cash.
First day, I'm 23 years old at this
time." He said, "You come work for me.
First day, I'm giving you $7 million
cash. I can give it to you in suitcase.
I can give you a wire trench for any way
you want.
What 23y old will say no to a $7 million
deal? And that's JUST ON THE FIRST DAY.
Much more is going to come after that. I
laughed at this guy.
You want me to steal money from people
pretending I'm investing it and use the
money to buy your junk, your fake
companies? You think I'm going to DO
THAT? I DIDN'T HAVE TO BE RELIGIOUS TO
KNOW I'M NOT GOING TO BE A THIEF.
YEAH, BUT IT'S $7 MILLION. I DON'T CARE
IF IT'S $700 MILLION. I GOT A JEWISH
[screaming] HEART.
HOW COULD I ALLOW MYSELF TO RUIN
PEOPLE'S LIVES? WHERE IS YOUR
[screaming] JEWISH HEART, AI IS?
WE HAVE SUFFERED FOR 2,000 YEARS
AND CRY TILL THIS DAY. ANTI-SEMITISM.
ANTI-SEMITISM. LOOK HOW THE GOIM ARE
HURTING US. BUT YET WE ALLOW SOME OF OUR
BROTHERS TO DO THIS
QUIETLY WITHOUT ANYONE SPEAKING AGAINST
IT.
HOW HOW IS THIS HOW AM I THE ONLY ONE
TALKING ABOUT THIS?
SIX YEARS I'M FIGHTING AGAINST THIS
HORRIBLE TERRORISM WITHIN our own
communities.
NOBODY WANTS TO SPEAK UP.
WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? A HOLOCAUST
LIKE IT HAPPENED EVERY SINGLE OTHER
TIME.
There's ways to make an honest living
even if you want to be a millionaire.
And the
and also in
both of them on page 16 SAYS THAT
DECIDES HOW MUCH MONEY YOU'RE GOING TO
MAKE ON
WHICH means
that if you are in a cash advance
business or you are in A BUSINESS
SELLING PLASTIC PENS IF A KADOSH DECIDED
YOU WILL make a million dollars you will
make a million dollars.
on that year. Which means that if
you made a million dollars in a corrupt,
horrible business that destroyed
people's lives,
and you'll be punished for it. GUESS
WHAT? YOU DIDN'T ONLY LOSE OUT BY
DESTROYING people's lives, by acquiring
sins, but you also lost out because
Hashem would have given you the million
dollars anyway.
Hashem would HAVE GIVEN YOU THE MILLION
DOLLARS ANYWAY.
And the other way would HAVE BEEN A
MITZVAH. THE OTHER WAY WOULD HAVE BEEN
KOSHER.
Just a little bit of amuna, a little bit
of ethics,
a little bit of mercy,
a little bit of a Jewish heart.
So, yeah, it bothers me.
And yeah, I'm going to continue fighting
against it.
And yeah, one day
everyone's going to say, you know,
you're right.
And that's not going to do anything good
for me because it would have already
been late. Too late.
I don't need to be right.
I need people to help themselves and get
themselves out of this disaster.
That's what I need. That's what
everybody needs.
You can look at the ala or you look at
the statistical reality.
Whichever one you pick, you'll arrive at
the same conclusion. It's a bad
business.
It's a bad business. And the only reason
why anyone is in that business is simply
because it's a temporary license to
steal.
That's it. That's all it is. It's a
temporary license to steal. Some people
have been given the permission to steal
for the last 5, 10 years, 20 years.
But eventually,
Akadoshu
shuts down the show.
And when he does,
it's going to hurt.
It's going to hurt.
I hope enough of you make the decision
before you get there because now you can
help yourself.
Later on,
nobody can help you.
And if you think that you're making a
mitzvah by donating money, even if you
donate a 100% of that money, it's not a
mitzvah because it's all considered
stolen money.
Not a dollar of it is considered a
mitzvah. Doesn't matter if you donate a
billion dollars.
It's not a mitzvah.
It's a sin. And every single person
that's in that business will be punished
for it. Even the secretaries that answer
the phones.
You think I'm wrong.
Prove it. Not with words. Prove it with
prove it with this is what is stands on.
We have a chuva.
We're willing to even pay anyone that
could prove our chuva wrong.
any amount you want. I threw $100,000
out there just because we figured it's a
nice amount. You want more? We'll higher
the stakes. 500,000.
Every single that has read the Chuvat
arrived at the same conclusion.
I only wish they spoke about it publicly
as often as we do.