Witchcraft 101 - Mishpatim (Rabbi Dovid Kaplan) (Weekly Parsha)

anybody know significance of number 424 palr what it's a palindrome what does that mean goes backwards and forwards yep uhhuh more far more significant than that far more significant than that 424 is the highest batting average recorded in modern Major League Baseball history by Rogers Hornsby in 1924 so that that is far more significant and by the way somebody had the uh audacity uh to compare the Eagles to the Bears which is uh you know it's it it just short of blasphemy uh there you know the Eagles beat a bunch of you know like Special Olympics teams you know the Bears 85 bear was was was was a thing you know nobody's going to be talking about the Eagles in in two years nobody's going to forget forget about the 85 Bears was a concept I resent it so uh he laughs 424 now I got that out of my system in P 33 it says like this when a man opens a pit or a man digs the pit he doesn't cover it up act donkey Falls in 424 bid of the page the owner of the pit has to pay and the the dead body belongs to so there are all sorts ofas here about how you calculate the damage the the point is the Torah saying that if you create a a pit if you dig a pit you're responsible for it so if you drop a and it's for people as well you know you drop a banana peel in public and somebody SL wipes out and it gets hurt so you're responsible for it number one number two uh you know if you see something in the public you have responsibility to move it if you're moving or if you're walking along and you see a raw piece of fruit on the sidewalk so have in mind I am I am fulfilling a Torah command and kick it aside and not just well oh well it's there so I may as well you know I didn't put it there so what's a you're a person's responsible that's the basic Hal over here and here it's talking about damage to somebody else's animals but at a deeper level it means if the commentary say what what if you dig a pit and cause somebody else to stumble spiritually that means you you you you create a situation where somebody else can sin then you're responsible for what's happened to him you're responsible for their comparisons to if he's a an axe uh uh which means he sins without any pleasure the comparison an axe if an axe Gores he doesn't get any real pleasure or a donkey uh a donkey eats and damages only because he's really he's looking to to to to eat something but at the end of the day day you cause somebody else to stumble for whatever reason so Balor the guy who the Bal the owner of the pit the one who caused him to stumble is the one who's responsible the classic example in Jewish history was a king called yurov benat yurov benat was the one who when the davidic kingdom was split so it went to uh uh D had a son schlomo and schlomo had a son RAV RAV became the king of two tribes uh uh Yehuda and bamin whereas Yovan benad who was a great man he started out as a great man he was given the 10 tribes of what's called Israel so they were divided into two there was malus Yehuda Judea and there was malus Israel and ovan bat was the king over 10 tribes and he was chosen by God to be this King through a prophet but he had a certain point he realized you know the Jewish people are going to abandon him they're going to go up to Jerusalem which is in the part of Judea so he created two golden calves and had the Jews worship idol worship he is the classic example of somebody who sins and causes others to sin and he loses his portion in the world to come so a person has to be careful not to cause others to sin now youran benat actually erected these two golden calves and wouldn't let people go to Jerusalem and cause them to worship idols we understand why the Torah is so severe about but the says if somebody eats food food without making a braa let's say the way the gar puts is you benefit from this world without any without braa you you sit down and you take you take some food you start eating so gamar says a person like that number one you're stealing from God you're stealing from the Jewish people because you're preventing benefit to to come down from from Heaven to the Jewish people and you are a colleague of Yovan benad who caused others to sin well I fight man's words what because I took a bite out of an apple without making a br so what I mean what what's what's therefore I'm like put up two golden the answer is yeah well you you ate without a Braha and somebody may have seen you then what does he do if he doesn't have to make a braa I don't have to make a braa then when he doesn't make a br his kids don't make a braa so now who's caused that chain of people who aren't making bras and goodness knows where it's going to end I I don't think the gorah means it at that level the first time you take a y an apple and didn't make a br but thear telling you that every little we would relate to that as being a minor a minor offense every minor offense has the potential to turn into something qu pretty major because there could be some sort of chain reaction over here and who knows where it's going to lead to I remember I was once on a flight I think it was it was a long flight about a 5 hour flight I think it was a California to New York flight and uh there's a guy I was sitting on the outside there's a guy on the inside row and uh on the inside by the window and as soon as the pl took off he went to sleep it was a red eye so he slept for about 4 hours ex about four hours and then he wakes up just say she's coming down the aisle where she saw you could sell the the flight attendant is selling these little breakfast kits and I just remember she you know I couldn't eat it was not Kosher and I just remember she the guy looked at says yeah I'll take one and uh and so she gives him he pays her and he takes it he opened it up I remember there's some crackers and some cream cheese or something and you know just started eating I just looking at this guy thinking know what about neg vaser you just slept for 4 hours you know you didn't you didn't make an ash yot you didn't make Al you didn't you didn't even go to the bathroom you know and you you didn't go to you didn't you didn't even make a broa I'm just looking at the the contrast you know for a Jew just to eat food what does it take you know I come home I come home and I want to eat supper okay so I'm going to have to wash but I can't wash because I have to go to the bathroom if you have to go to bathroom you're not even allowed to make a broa see if C go to the bathroom then you come out make an Asher yatsar then you go and you wash only to and by the time they get to the table you starve to death you know by the time you even get to the food yeah you you you basic you basically dissolve so but but you understand there's a reason for this what it does is it creates restraint it just walk in and just start helping yourself you know walk over the refrigerator grab a hunk of salami and take a bite out of it as we are want to do when we're very hungry or looking for something to eat at midnight yeah you have to you know sit down take like a mench go to the table make a br you know it's got to be calculated out all of which creates a certain amount of self-control it's all it's all part there's a method to this madness it all it all works it's all working but here the Torah is telling you you have to be careful not to set a negative example okay in PK hey Skip ahead now to 426 this is very pertinent this is very relevant to to to to today um on on the fifth line on page 426 I made a br before by the way gotta be really careful here when a man sets a fire fire burns in another in another field sorry sorry sorry I read the wrong one not a fire that's not talking about the fire that's uh that's that that his animals is uh is is eating food in a different field is the one I want to get when a fire goes out leaves your property and it catches on to some thorns and then it goes in and burns somebody else's pile or his it singes his field sh the guy who who uh uh uh set the fire is going to they have to pay that means if something listen but it wasn't my fault I had a fire what could I do yeah well it wasn't my fault either you who's that somebody why should I have to pay you had a fire on your property it burned my property so you know well well why should I be the one that takes the loss you be the one who takes the loss it was your fire I didn't start the fire you started the fire and even if it was your stove that that that that spontaneously started the fire who so who but who's responsible I'm not responsible I'm certainly not responsible somebody's responsible for it the Tor says you're responsible the control your property and it's a that's a a a uh uh um a general rule in liability is that if you do something even by accident you're liable it's not enough to damage Somebody by accident and say oh sorry it was an accident I'm sure it was an accident nobody said you're a Russia if you did it on purpose you'd be a Russia but somebody's got to be somebody's got to be liable you are liable for it you can't say I couldn't control the fire so I don't know if somebody started in Los Angeles I don't know how those fires started do they know it do they know if it was uh there's theories there several theories what what is the most prevalent Theory um that it was a natural force a natural for uhuh well I guess that isn't the prevalent Theory so it seems to be a mlus there we go we're Jewish it's a mlus whatever it ISS I think it's Orson too oh say uhhuh yeah what you okay well well okay he said he clearly said arson the uh the the what do you call the uh whoever if it was arson the guy threw a cigarette down and started think now this guy's responsible for all that property he's responsible for everything I the insurance cover you understand the Tor doesn't I didn't mean for it to go that far you have to control your fire so the commentary say well where is the fire that we have to control it refers to anger anger is a fire it burns like a fire a person gets angry and the Torah says you you know you get angry person gets angry and people down there's an expression I have anger he has anger I've got an anger issue you don't have an anger issue you've got a human being issue because human beings have anger inside them and things could get us angry and we have an obligation to control our anger anger is an urge and like all other urges a person has to control that urge and a person can't come along and say I can't I can't control my anger you have you have work on it what do you think doesn't happen overnight you shouldn't something has to be worked on what if you're selfish I can't control my selfishness work on it so you have to work on not being a selfish person there are ways to work on anger there are ways to work on selfish work ways to work on eego it's got to be work done you can't do I get angry he makes me angry he doesn't make you angry you allow your anger to dominate you he makes me angry a person is angry there are million one things to be angry about in life and getting up in the morning gets me angry I'm angry at my alarm clock as soon as I get up so I hurl it against the wall then I get up and there's no towel in the bathroom so I'm angry now about that then I'm angry because somebody soses the toothpaste incorrectly then I'm angry because the bus didn't come on time and I'm angry when I get on the train and I'm angry when I get to the Yeshiva because I realize I'm in the Yeshiva so so I'm angry there there's no end to it then I'm angry when I get home because supper isn't ready on time and I'm angry with my kids and I'm angry and I'm angry all all done you're angry what a you a rapper you know you know you there's no end to this sort of thing and therefore you could pick up a gun and shoot people there's no end to it so Torah says control yourself he's angry of course we're angry who doesn't get angry everybody has anger in them we have to control it you have to control it you have to control anything else a person can't say I can't control it nowadays it's a very 21st century I have anger it makes it sound like it's not my fault that it came from somewhere else I have anger Emy have anger he has an anger issue he doesn't have an anger issue he has a laziness issue that he's not willing to work on it that's what it is he has an anger issue who who would there million in one thing get he be angry all day the gar say somebody gets angry you should view this person as if he's worshiping Idols why because anger stems from ego I'm not in control and I want to be in control that's ego so work on it like anything else we have to obviously a guy who's getting violent and throwing things around so there's an emergency anger work that needs to be done but everybody gets angry everybody who doesn't get angry the question is what you do when you're angry okay next one in uh uh I'm just moving quickly because these are has a lot of different in the line I'm just trying to pick the ones that really apply to us on a regular basis and uh um where is it uh POS B Al okay um so the Torah here is talking about pick it up from P page 5 428 428 Fifth Line from the top when a man gives his fellow a donkey or an axe or a sheep a sheep or any animal to guarda the animal dies or it's somebody somebody C captures the animal or or it it it break it it's something out of his control the animal nishar it breaks how does he translate break better word for break animals don't break what's the word uh uh or was broken or was looted uh by by somebody with a somebody with a a gun you have to swear that you didn't you didn't use the animal we're talking over here about a show a paid Watchman I am paying you like a Shepherd I'm paying you to watch my animals you're not allowed to make use of them because you didn't borrow it you're a paid Watchman if I give you my uh if I tell you to watch my car and I pay you to to watch my car you can't drive the car driving the car makes you a borrower which gives you a higher level of responsibility I'm paying you as a Watchman so I'm paying you to watch guard my animal then the Torah says you shall love if the animal is stolen or lost then you do have to pay that means a show a paid Watchman has a certain degree of responsibility you are responsible because you're being paid if you are an unpaid Watchman what's called anybody know what an unpaid Watchman is called sham a sham is an unpaid Watchman then you're only responsible for negligence if it's stolen or lost you're not responsible if I'm paying you to watch it you have a height heightened level of responsibility then if it's stolen or lost you have to you have to pay if it an accident beyond your control for instance was stolen by an armed robber you don't have to give up your life to watch guard my animal or if it got hit by lightning or if it died or some something beyond your control then you are absolved you don't have to pay okay but if it was stolen or lost you have to pay now what's this got to do with us I mean I mean first of all on a very practical level if somebody asks you to guard something watch something hey do me a favor watch my watch my gamor while I while I go for I'm going do me a favor keep it in your room for a couple of weeks while I go home so if you're an unpaid Watchman the only time you actually and let's say got stolen or lost it's not your fault if you took the gamor and you left it out on the balcony and it rained and it ruined the gamor then you that's negligence you'd have to pay but here the commentary say that it's referring to us we are paid watch by God God has given us the Torah to guard and to watch and if it's stolen or lost from us then we're responsible that means if we have an opportunity to do a Mitzvah and the Mitzvah got stolen or lost person overslept so he didn't make it to Bion in the morning or if a person forgot to bench he left the table without benching okay you know why did it happen why did it happen to a certain degree there's always an element of negligence because it was really important th it wouldn't be happening if a person had an important business meeting had important business meeting at at at 8:00 in the morning or at 7:30 in the morning where he's potentially going to be hired for a job that pay seven seven digits I guarantee you he'll be at that meeting on time and then they're not going to be any traffic jams there not going to be anything because he'll leave the house at 5: in the morning to make a 20-minute drive just to make sure he's there if a person has a sh opportunity to meet a girl who is the single daughter of of a 93-year-old multibillionaire who's on a respirator I guarantee you he's going to get there on time nothing is going to stop him from getting on time he's not going to let that opportunity a person has an opportunity to ad mitz our Pro our problem and I can include myself in this we don't appreciate the value of a Mitzvah that's the problem if we re appreciate what a Mitzvah is so sometimes you know we let it slip through our fingers if we really appreciate it we would guard it we would guard it more conscientiously in the thebody heard of Kim say Kim had a Yesa he had built he he he he he was the administrator he he funded a Yesa and he had somebody named Ri TR was the rush Yesa he was the one who gave the sh was the over the the overseer of the entire project but rali TR was the one who gave the gamorra we're talking about at a very high level to to Major to to Major time was wealthy right correct but the opposite the really not wealthy he he fundraised for the for the Yesa but he didn't have his person Persona he lived in a h and Roden is what what we would call a hub and uh uh he himself was not very wealthy but he had a yiva that he maintained now the rashish Shiva was a man named rali TR and at a certain point rali TR became very very sick so the boys decided to take a collection for rali TR they went around the Yesa how much time from your life expectancy will you donate to our beloved rashash Shiva so one guy said I'll give a month other guys I'll give a week I'll give a day I'll give I'll give I whatever they were throwing around numbers not that I don't we I don't know that they you could even do such a thing but they thought they could and apparently at some there is such a thing that it's possible I know exactly how to do it and they all donated time that the rashash Shiva who was critically ill should live longer and after they all donated they went to the and they asked the to donate some time for so closed his eyes and he thought he said I'll donate a minute of my life expectancy a minute a minute for the Russ everybody else is donating a week a month the said the only reason you're throwing out the time spans those time spans is because you yourselves don't appreciate what you could accomplish in a in a week or a month or a year I know what could be accomplished at even one minute of life and if you know what you're going find you wouldn't toss it around just like oh yeah I'll give it away obviously was making a point that in a minute what a person could do in a minute they had a court case I read about a court case a guy was accused of murder so uh the the the defense attorney said there was only a two-minute Gap that he was out of of sight what could he have possibly done in two minutes how could he possibly killed him so the prosecutor got up and he said okay I want to show you what two minutes is and he said I want everybody to be quiet and he just took out a stopwatch in the whole courtroom for two minutes didn't do anything and after that they saw what two what a what a span two minutes is it they turned into a verdict of guilty because two minutes is a long time one minute is a long time one minute of learning Torah you know he could do one minute of learning Torah that's what the so we we are a little bit careless with God's that's why we're a we're a paid Watchmen we're going to get rewarded we have to take the mitz very seriously there's another court case by the way where the jury turned in the the foreman jury the judge said what what is your what is your uh verdict he said not guilty sir so they said is the based on what grounds he said well Insanity so the judge like said really all 12 of you I guess he had to be there the uh the uh the uh then there was another case where where there's a jury and there was one woman with 11 men and they all said one thing and she said something else and she said well if you guys wouldn't be so obstinate we could all go home I guess he had to be there too yeah okay the uh okay now a a uh a bizarre uh a a bizarre our uh uh Mitzvah take a look at page 430 and it says three words one of the shortest suuk him in the Torah top of three 432nd line a witch must not be allowed to live and from here we see a you didn't know that Andrew you know the Witchcraft how do you like that the Torah says a witch must be executed they a woman who is somebody who is is practicing a practitioner of Witchcraft is a capital offense if there are witnesses they are liable for the stoning penalty now the first thing that you notice is that it talks in feminine form m a witch a male witch is also Pro what is by the way what is the correct word for a male witch a not a wizard a wizard is a subcategory that's what I wanted somebody to say good you no you were right it is a warlock a a male witch is a warlock a wizard is a subcategory stop reading Harry Potter so the uh the uh a a warlock is the official is the official term for a male witch and he is also prohibited to practice witchcraft they had those too right what's that they had warlocks and witches there were so why does the Torah talk in the feminine form why does the Torah talk about a m which is m is masculine why does the Torah talking the feminine anybody know why is Torah talking the feminine what it's got to be teaching D teaching D the DK program you're talking about uhuh it's a teaching DK you know I thought you meant the DK no the the uh no no they you're confusing which with drugs no no the uh the uh the the uh take a look at Rashi I want you to see the words of Rashi inside it's the right column of Rashi right column Rashi four lines from the top says Rashi everybody see it right column 430 right column four lines from the top says has to be executed to B this applies to males or females the Torah spoke in the commonly found scenario behov it in other words when we think of when you think of Witchcraft what do you think think of wi you think of witches you think of female witches you know the W the Wicked Witch of the West the Wicked the Wicked Witch of the Wicked Witch of the West W the wck West everybody's mother my mother certainly you know would whenever she picked up the broom and it was time for us to clean up okay the wicked wi the West is here you know that meant cleanup time and in an unpleasant uh uh environment that's what that's what that meant and and and so there the concept of the witch and you'd see that through history for example they in the middle ages they had they had Witch Trials and it was always a woman who was on trial and then they had what's that they were burned at the St they were burned at the steak and then in in the Salem witch trials they used to strap them to a log and dunk them in water do you know that they said they if a woman was accused of being witch they would strap her to a log and dunk her in water for 10 minutes and then using Keen Tomic reasoning so if she died well she was a witch she deserved to die and if she lived only a witch could serve thve 10 minutes underwater so they would dunk her for 20 that was that was insane and it was always women I have a strong suspicion that the women who were accused of Witchcraft probably some guy got her pregnant and and didn't want his wife to find get in trouble so he just accused her of being a witch get get her take her out of circulation that's what I that's what I suspect I mean I've been to the Mikvah you know some of these guys stay underwater I mean you know these guys could be setting Guinness book records you know they they go underwater know are you okay you know and eventually the guy comes up you know eventually he's yeah but but that was that was the uh that was the Torah talks about we think of it in terms of women it's prohibited for men as well the gorah by the way is full of the gorah is full of Witchcraft stories and Witchcraft how to how to ward off a spell and and remarkably remarkably if somebody is is is connected to water they are immune from being from a spell being cast on them like if you're in a shower like if you're in no no talk about like like if they're standing in like in a lake or something but water and it's just interesting because in in The Wizard of AZ how do these how did she kill her with the water where did they get that from where would they get that idea of all things why water you know why not why not marshmallow fluff where did they get water from so I assume that whoever wrote The Wizard of ozs I imagine there some off the der Yesa guy was involved and he just remembered one thing from his from up something about witchcraft of water said this is really cool so he so they dumped it in and then I'm melting I'm melting where where where did that come from they had to come from somebody okay whatever it is what is witchcraft what is witchcraft what is what does it mean when the Torah talks about witchcraft the supernatural witchcraft what there Supernatural witchcraft what is it now listen carefully witchcraft what necr or no no the whole concept what's the whole concept of craft how can you cast how can you do something Supernatural that brings about an effect how can you do something like that where where does that come from so listen what what the definition of Witchcraft is again it's very very basic level witchcraft 101 but this is the basic level the basic definition brought down in the everything in the physical world have you ever heard the idea that every blade of grass has an ministering angel that tells it to grow have you ever heard that concept okay Ritz by the way who founded toras he was once giving a Shear to a bunch of B they were sitting on the lawn they sitting on the lawn outside in the was a nice day and one of the BAM absentmindedly and ripped up a blade of grass and rashes turned to this B he said to him you know there was an Malik there was an angel telling that blade of grass to grow and you decided to tell him not to grow you then what ABS mindly ripping up a blade of grass for for what purpose that was they trying to communicate what does that mean what does that mean there's an angel what do you think they're grow grow grow it's like the fans that say the ball go go go you know grow grow what does that mean that means that everything in the physical world has a spiritual counterpart well we call a Malik an angel but it's a spiritual counterpart and Witchcraft is the ability to tap into the higher forces and bring about an effect in the physical world there are people with that ability whether it's an innate ability whether it's a whether it's a ability that could be learned witchcraft is means according to the tapping into the higher spiritual forces and somehow bringing about an effect in the physical world but you can't do it you can't do it you're not allowed to do that which begs another question which is if you can't do it why does God give people the ability to do it why is the ability there what's the answer obviously what's that of course it's a test it's a does people have different abilities I've always felt I've always felt that I would be very good at shoplifting I think that I've got the I've got the ability I think maybe I look innocent and I you know say stitch in some stitch in some big Pockets you know and you know create a diversion there are all sorts of way I think I'd be good at it and I have an urge to do it too you have to what are you laughing I'm human and I yeah pickpocketing especially now that I would really like to get into because that I'm intrigued by the just the whole idea you know one guy bumps into them and the other guy nips the wallet and it just you know I think I could be good at it and even if I could be and I have an urge to so what suppress the urge so you have the urge so what oh it becomes even more challenging let's say you're a great chef let's say you're a great chef you you you you've gone to Chef's school and you'd like to cook you're into cooking and you really like but the only really high class restaurants available are not kosher you're not allowed to do that you can't you can't use that ability how do you have to suppress that ability because it could be Jewish customers it could be your you're cooking the substances you're not allowed all sorts of problems you have to suppress the ability and then you're going to have to use your talents in a Jewish restaurant you know you know okay roast chicken you know you know what are you going to do you half the things that you half the half the ingredients you're not even going to be able to use because they're not Kosher you have to suppress it's a challenge in life let's say a woman here's a real CH a woman has a remarkable voice she's got a great voice and she'd like to sing she'd like to sing on Broadway or opera or whatever it would be and she's limited to singing in front of from women how do you like that can you imagine Barbara's D end if she was from right and she'd be limited to singing in front of from women that's pretty frustrating so what that you're that's a that becomes a challenge that becomes a challenge there are other challenges by the way there are women who are brilliant women they're brilliant women and they feel stifled by being mothers and wives and they're brilliant absolutely brilliant intellectually brilliant so there is room for the outlet they they could certainly study and they could certainly but they have a primary responsibility you know a woman's home there's a baby crying that baby needs to be nursed and it's got to be nursed by one person only and he's got to be fed and taken care of and nurtured of everything else that the primary that's a challenge what about a man who is not stimulated to study Torah I'm not interested he does not have any academic or intellectual Drive whatsoever he's got Every Man Has a we don't have to learn Torah all day you don't have an obligation to be in col but you have an obligation to study some Torah but I'm not interested so OD so you're you're going to have to force yourself you have to for we have it's a challenge I'm not interested and so on and so forth everybody has abilities or interests which they may have to suppress this is one of them they got a natural talent and a natural Talent has to be suppressed and that very often in life that's a very big test that's a very big test a guy says the uh in the extreme case people have various interests in in in immorality I say well I have I I have this drive it's a natural drive that I have okay well a natural Drive you're going to have to suppress it and it can only be used in a permissible way that's also something has to be suppressed like everything else that's part of the challenge of Torah but that's what witchcraft that's what witchcraft is there are actually the gumar talks about about about what makes a person susceptible to witch to spells the gamar talks about tan and amim who warded off who who fought off uh uh uh witches and and and prevented themselves it's disgusted there are different opinions whether it exists today or not that means whether or not the um authentic witchcraft still exists there are different opinions among the commentaries uh there are those who say that you know if you go out if you go out east some you go out to some of the Eastern countries and you'll see things that uh that have a difficulty to explain them by natural law okay it could be it exists it could be it doesn't I don't know there are different opinions among the commentaries but at one point it certainly existed and then a person would have to suppress their talent the one the the thing that you can't do is uh uh there's a Prohibition slight of hand if used for deceptive purposes is prohibited uh um there's even a question about guys doing magic shows like there are from there are from magicians who do who do magic shows and uh obviously so what the pokim say I have a friend who's a who performed as a magician and what the pokim say is that they have to show the audience one or two tricks to show them they're not doing anything Supernatural how to trick works then they could then they could do the the show but all these uh all these uh these uh if you're doing it to deceive people usually to make money so that that's prohibited it's not a capital offense because it's not Supernatural you're just doing some of what's it called slight of hand or some some sort of trick what's the name of that guy uh David bla David DAV David Blaine what so what do he what does he do he's a mind Guy a mind Illusionist he's an Illusionist okay so he's just creating a there's another guy there's another guy David Copperfield maybe oh yeah he may made the Statue of Liberty disappear you know David Copperfield made a Statue of Liberty deser so what did he do he took people he took people into the New York Harbor and put him on a boat and what he did was he closed the curtain and he had the boat this is pretty cever I mean it's you know you know he had the boat Turn very slightly very very slowly and slightly and then like I don't know how much time an hour or two later they pulls back the curtain and there's no Statue of Liberty Just sh shifted the direction of the boat so all these things you know that everybody knows he's not really making the Statue of Liberty disappear so I don't know that that's a that they they all know there's a trick they all know there's a trick that that's the there's another guy in Israel uh who's who he's on the L he's on the L the safety thing he's pretty good actually suard suard what's his name I forgot his first name I say something suard right so he does uh he does a smokers control yourselves he he did he they do it in English and in and in Hebrew so he for the L video question it seems like the Torah is full of stories of people doing Supernatural things but that's not considered witcraft good there's a where is that line between a miracle like if you look atoi and Alisha and Moser abedu it's not witchcraft that's not witchcraft that's a prophecy where he's given an ability by God to perform a miracle that's not witchcraft whereas uh whereas uh there there's a fine line be where you cross that line now not only that the members of the Sanhedrin here to be up on witchcraft so they could judge witchcraft cases they were allowed to study witchcraft because if a case comes to court and this guy's accused of being witch but how are you supposed to know if it's witch authentic witchcraft or not they had to master that also in order to be able to judge the case but they was only they're doing it for for a constructive purpose they couldn't do it to make their next their neighbor disappear they they they could only do it they they had to use it they had to use it for Pro manner okay considered witchcraft billum was using it was a sorcerer yeah who was who was doing witchcraft which is why he was involved in bity because in order to the same way that a person look at the very next pule gentlemen look at the very next p anybody who commits beity is liable for the death penalty now what's that got to do with witch why does that follow Wich somebody was asking me yesterday if there was a uh oh the other yes if there's a if the PUK and follow each other for what's the rhyme and reason now the very next PUK is anybody who sleeps with an animal is a bestiality is a is is liable for death penalty so one of theim says what's the connection over here the answer is what does it say about billum billum who was a sorcerer what was he involved with he was involved with his donkey what was the purpose of being Val he wasn't just a pervert it means the same way that if somebody wanted to get to the level of Prophecy what do you have to do how do you become a nevi how do how you how do you go to how do you got to get a degree in Prophecy you major in either political science or prophecy how do you become a a a Nai the answer is that a person had to work on himself to perfect himself in the areas of kadua the Holier you became the higher your level eventually a person could rise in their level until they get to the exess until they exess prophecy the opposite is the opposite of Prophecy is is what we would call Kuma the the the the spir the impure spiritual Powers well if to Pro if to get to the pure spiritual Powers you to purify yourself to access the impure Powers how did you do it you had to you had to make yourself as impure as possible and the LA highest or lowest bestiality is the one of the lowest levels of impurity so billum there's no coincidence that he was involved with his donkey and there's no coincidence that the Torah follows witchcraft with this with this uh uh prohibition that don't get involved in this because one thing leads to the next or it's used to lead to that that's the idea and that's why I told you there's there's there's a method to dis bandness right there's rhyme and reason okay take a look at puzle uh four lines from the top a convert you should not torment him or oppress him because youselves were were were Were Strangers the word gar which we call a convert really means he was a stranger and he joined up to the Jewish people so the Torah says you're not allowed to torment the gear verbally don't mention his past say listen you were an idol worshiper what do you do and put on filling don't don't say anything that's going to uh hurt the gear first of all we're worried that if you if you really uh if really torment him he may he may abandon Judaism and he can't cuz once a guy or a convert male or female once they come up out of that Mikvah they're Jewish as Jewish as you and me and once they come out of that Mikvah they're Jewish and they're Jewish forever so the guy says well I'm quitting Judaism you can't quit Judaism there's no quitting once you're in either make up your mind once you're in and then if we start tormenting a gear and we start teasing him about his background and the guy says listen what do I need this for and then he may abandon the whole thing so now you have a Jew who is sinning so the Torah says you are not allowed to torment a gear verbally now this applies to all Jews the Torah picks a gear and we're going to see a widow and an orphan as well the Torah picks the people who are most vulnerable but you're not allowed to verbally abuse what they call today verbal abuse you're not allowed to what's called in Hebrew on you're not allowed to torment anybody that verbally to hurt people verbally and we see that that that that sometimes people are hurt even more verbally than they are physically and you can say something to somebody that lasts them for last them for many years now I'm just giving you a couple of examples because these are brought down as examples one of the examples of verbal pain causing verbal pain is causing somebody worry for example somebody says his grandfather just had a minor heart attack said really I read that minor heart attacks are often followed by Major heart attacks oh thank you very much you know that I thank you for sharing that with me uh what am I supposed to do with that information now other than worry so you've caused him verbal pain number one number two insulting people just straight out insulting people calling people names number three nicknames a nickname is a very severe form of verbal torment and if you stick if you if somebody has a nickname and he doesn't like it you call him by that nickname so a it's considered a transgression of of of of onim number one number two if he's embarrassed by it then you're embarrassing somebody in public and a person could lose his portion in the world to come for embarrassing somebody in public and one of the uh very subtle forms of of verbal pain and this people are guilty of all the time is if somebody buys something let's say a guy buys a new car guy just bought himself a new a new Toyota for $30,000 and he drives up with his new car you say how much did you pay well you know 30 grand 30 my brother-in-law could have gotten you for 275 now what did you just do you just ruined any any possibility of ever enjoying that car if he's Jewish you just ruined any possibility and it's always I see people do this all the time how much did you pay for those shoes you I got them on Amazon 150 they got those same shoes on sale down the block for 120 that that that sort of thing and and it does when when a when a person you don't realize how cruel that is because then a person like you I walk some how I you know what did I do that for that's all included in this prohibition then the Torah goes on to the next one don't torment a widow or an orphan and again the Torah is talking about people who are vulnerable if you torment him if he yells out to me I will hear his yell now what's going to be the punishment of somebody who torments widows and orphans I will get angry says God I will kill you by the sword wives will be widows and your children will be orphans now what does that mean I mean obviously if a guy dies his wife's a widow and his children are orphans why does the Torah repeat that God says I'll kill you and your wives are going to be widows your children be orphans so rash she brings down the gar that says that the person will die in unconfirmed death and his wife will be left as a widow she won't be able to Remar and his children will be orphans because they won't have a father and a guy right before he dies and he's dying somewhere out in the desert where nobody knows he's dying he has to die with that thought in his mind which is a painful thought to go with that his family is now going to suffer because of how he tormented other widows and orphans so like in 911 when there was a guy who was trapped there and the last thing he did was he called the RV to say I'm in I'm about to die make sure you know I'm about to die that my wife is not in auna which is a you know tremendous Act of consideration uh and and that his children should have an opportunity to have a to at least have a different father why does the Torah say a double terminology though if you notice in that entire POS it says if you double double torment double so I saw one of the uh one of the uhfor says that a woman who's tormented let's say somebody says something insensitive to a woman so what does she normally do she goes home and pours out her heart to her husband so she has somebody to cry to so there's only going to be one cry and if he torment an orphan so he'll go home and he'll cry to his father father so somebody to cry to but here you're talking about people who have nobody to cry to so what are they going to do they're going to cry to Hashem so okay it's like there going be two cries over here one cry in other words a regular Widow there's only one Cry The Cry is because of the actual insult but then she'll she'll unload it with her husband so there's only going to be one cry and the orphan as well but a woman who has nobody to cry to what's going to happen there's a cry from the original p and then there's the cry because she doesn't have anybody else to cry out to so she going to cry to so it's going to be double whammy double whammy and that's why says I'm going to hear it the double hearing I'm going to hear the original prain that you caused and I'm also going to hear the cry because they have nobody else to cry to and therefore when it comes to widows and orphans one has to be extremely extremely careful extremely careful you don't mess with a widow woman as a widow is vulnerable somebody one of the great rabbis once said you know a woman she's a widow and uh the bus comes and she misses the bus and she starts crying because the bus or she goes to she gets to the store and the store is closed when she gets there and she starts crying when a widow is crying she's crying because she's a widow no matter what's happening if she's crying part of that crying is because she's a widow and therefore one has to be very very careful and the gorah says a man has to be very careful not to make his own wife cry don't treat don't you have to be very delicate with your wife because a woman is very sensitive that you could easily cry and if your own wife could cry so imagine how imagine how vulnerable a widow is what has to be very very careful invol you always back off same thing with orphans isal what's that crying for a wife is natural therefore a man has to be sure to rise above nature but they still it still happens it still happens if you don't treat her well yeah no but if you do treat her well if you treat her El if she cries she's crying because of something else right okay fine okay but don't yeah don't don't don't be the don't be the