Rav Yaron Reuven - Protecting the Window to Your Blessings

Protecting the Window to Blessings Audio

Tzetil Katan (Small Note) by Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk

Tzetil Katan - English

Tzetil Katan - Hebrew fragment

Neither post nor transcript have been reviewed by R. Yaron Reuven chlita

Summary Briefing

Main Themes:

• Guarding the Eyes: The primary focus is on the importance of guarding one's eyes from negative influences, described as "windows to the soul" that can both preserve inner goodness and invite blessings.
• Spiritual Warfare: Life is presented as a constant battle against the "Yetzer Hara" (evil inclination). Torah observance, especially guarding the eyes, is the key to achieving victory and accessing blessings.
• Blessings vs. Curses: Parashat Ki Tavo's stark contrast between blessings for the righteous and curses for the wicked is emphasized. Following the Torah is portrayed as the path to abundant blessings, while straying leads to curses.
• Teshuva and Rosh Hashanah: The upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashanah is presented as a critical opportunity for self-reflection and commitment to improving one's spiritual standing through teshuva (repentance).
• Supporting Torah Learning: The speaker passionately advocates for supporting his organization's efforts in Torah dissemination, charitable work, and providing resources to those in need, particularly during the High Holidays.

Important Ideas & Facts:

• Restricting Vision: Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk's teaching to "restrict your field of vision" is central, advocating for focusing on the immediate surroundings to avoid encountering immodesty or distractions.
• The Power of Example: Stories of righteous individuals like the Chozeh of Lublin and a Mekubal who fasted for a week are used to illustrate the potential for spiritual attainment and the power of Torah observance.
• Dangers of Laziness and Arrogance: These traits are identified as traps set by the Satan to lead people astray. Alacrity and humility are presented as the antidotes.
• Impact on Relationships: Guarding one's eyes, particularly for men within a marriage, is presented as crucial for maintaining appreciation and preventing comparisons that breed dissatisfaction.
• The Importance of Community: The speaker criticizes lenient rulings on issues of morality and emphasizes the need to uphold Torah values within the Jewish community.

Notable Quotes:

• "These eyes that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave you are not only the way that you can see the world, but it's also the way the world can enter you."
• "The greatest investment that a person can possibly do is to invest as much as possible into tzedakah (charity)."
• "For everything that a person is forbidden to do by the Torah, there is the same flavor, there is the same pleasure available to them in a kosher way."
• "Hashem yiftach lecha et otzaro hatov (Hashem shall open for you His storehouse of goodness)."
• "It's not the mouse that steals, but the hole that steals," meaning that it's not the evil inclination that makes you sin but rather the free time that led to your sin.

Table of Contents

Introduction:

• Opening Remarks: (Paragraphs 1-2) This section includes greetings, blessings, and an announcement about the upcoming High Holiday campaign.
• The High Holiday Campaign: (Paragraphs 3-6) This section emphasizes the importance of the annual fundraising campaign, highlighting the impact of past campaigns (feeding the poor, supporting Torah study) and emphasizing the miracles experienced by past donors. Testimonies from donors are mentioned as evidence of these miracles.

Protecting the Windows to Your Soul:

• The Power of Eyes: (Paragraphs 7-19) Transitioning from the campaign, Rav Reuven introduces the teachings of Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, focusing on "restricting your field of vision." This section connects the act of seeing with the soul's vulnerability, arguing that limiting visual intake (even of permitted things) protects the soul and enhances appreciation for blessings. The example of Rabbi Aaron Rata and his lesson on predatory birds is used to illustrate this point.
• Sanctifying the Physical: (Paragraphs 20-29) This section explores how even permitted pleasures, like food, can be elevated through mindful consumption. The story of the Rebbe of Kotzk and the Mekubal who consumes enormous quantities of food without being satiated is shared to illustrate the potential for sanctifying the physical. This connects back to the idea of controlling intake – whether visual or physical – leading to spiritual benefit.
• The Blessings of Restraint: (Paragraphs 30-42) This section focuses on the blessings that come from protecting one's eyes, drawing parallels between visual restraint and safeguarding the covenant with G'd. It argues that limiting exposure to negativity (especially comparisons fostered by media) enhances appreciation for existing blessings and creates a vessel for receiving more. Examples include marital satisfaction and contentment with one's life.
• The Dangers of Promiscuity and the Blessings of Kosher Pleasure: (Paragraphs 43-59) This section delves into the Torah's stance on promiscuity and the importance of seeking fulfillment in permissible ways. It emphasizes that the Torah offers kosher outlets for every desire, highlighting conversion, levirate marriage, and specific foods as examples. A story about a potentially invalid conversion highlights the importance of proper observance.

Parashat Ki Tavo and the Choice Before Us:

• Unlimited Blessings for Following Torah: (Paragraphs 60-72) This section transitions to Parashat Ki Tavo, emphasizing the abundance of blessings available to those who follow the Torah. It stresses that even mistakes can be transformed into blessings and provides examples of material and familial blessings. The imagery of G'd's "treasure chest" overflowing with blessings is central to this section.
• The Curses for Disregarding Torah: (Paragraphs 73-88) This section outlines the curses associated with disregarding the Torah, connecting disrespect for parents to broader societal breakdown and ultimately to severe transgressions. It emphasizes the slippery slope from seemingly minor transgressions to grave sins and highlights the interconnectedness of mitzvot.
• Laziness as a Tool of the Satan: (Paragraphs 89-95) This section identifies laziness as a dangerous trap leading to apathy and transgression. It links arrogance with a disregard for time, leading to laxity in mitzvah observance and ultimately to sin. The importance of "zrizut" (alacrity) and filling one's time with purpose is emphasized.

Conclusion:

• Our Choice: Blessings or Curses? (Paragraphs 96-106) This section reiterates the central message: we are constantly faced with a choice between blessings and curses. The extreme example of the Chozeh of Lublin, who blinds himself to the physical world through intense Torah study, illustrates the transformative power of dedication. However, the concluding message emphasizes that even small steps towards protecting our "windows to the soul" can yield significant blessings and that this Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity for self-reflection and improvement.
• Call to Action: Support the High Holiday Campaign: (Paragraphs 107-111) The excerpt concludes with a final call to support the High Holiday campaign, urging listeners to donate generously and become partners in bringing blessings to themselves and others. The miracles experienced by previous donors are presented as evidence of the campaign's spiritual impact.

Transcript

In the name of G-d (G'd), we will do and succeed. Shiur Torah (Torah Lesson), Bukhi Mabayim (Welcome Everyone), Shavua Tov (Good Week), Shavua Mevorach (Blessed Week). For Rabbi Efraim Ben Shulamit, Rabbanit (Rabbi's Wife) Sarah Bat Anat, Talia Bat Sarah, Rabbanit Sarah Bat Rabbanit Levana, Bat Sarah, Sarah Bat Levana, Avimori David Ben Nesria, Yimim Morati Doris Bat Zhora, and all of Am Yisrael (the Nation of Israel), and all the righteous Noahides that continue to support and sponsor these lectures and help us and learn with us, Baruch Hashem (blessed is G'd).

So tonight we have, Baruch Hashem, before we get started with the extraordinary lecture, which is going to be something that is certainly going to be a build-up on what we learned last week, which many of you told me was a life-changer for you. Just to give you guys the amazing news that, Baruch Hashem, our holiday, High Holiday campaign is now officially live. The campaign for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), is officially live. The link is supposed to be bhrh.org, but for some places, it may not work until tomorrow, but there is another link that will be posted on the screen and in the comments for you to go there and check it out when you get a chance, Be'ezrat Hashem (with G'd's help).

Now, this holiday campaign is by far the most extraordinary campaign we've ever had in the last nearly decade of doing this, where, Baruch Hashem, after all these years, with your support, and Baruch Hashem, HaKadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, Blessed be He) has blessed us to get to a point of bringing out nearly 14,000 shiurim (Torah lessons), feeding hundreds of thousands of people over the years, different poor Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). Every holiday, every month, every week, we have somebody that we have an opportunity to help them, helping widows, helping orphans, helping converts, helping people that are simply struggling, and especially during these holidays, where this year we're, uh, uh, there's how they were expecting to, uh, reach over 10,000 people, uh, that we're going to be able to help them during this holiday, which is by far the biggest mark, uh, we've gotten to. I remember when we first started, we were only looking up to aim for 500, and when we got to 1,000 the following year, it was literally like an open miracle, but we've merited to get to a point where we have 10,000 people knocking on our door, and as I told you guys last week, we can't say no. We just simply committed to it, and we're praying to Hashem to help us actually do it.

So with that being said, because of all of the Mesirut Nefesh (self-sacrifice) that we've done over the years, hundreds of thousands of books, millions of CDs, USBs, posters, one of the main things that we've seen time and time again, we've told you about over the years, is that this particular campaign that we have during the High Holidays, which is the only one during the year that we really have a couple of specialized donation items for larger donors, is the one that has brought more miracles to people than I can imagine. And each year I tell you that the people come back. The same people that donated the year before, they come back. And why? Because they got the results, and even beyond the results that they expected.

And after all these years of telling you about them and also seeing a lot of empty promises being spread out on the internet, where all types of places and people are saying, "This is good. You'll get miracles if you do this," I kind of got tired of hearing people talk about things and making empty promises because I hear the complaints also from people that donated elsewhere and didn't get it. So we figured, you know what, why not just simply publicize the miracle where it's not only going to show you guys what's actually happening behind closed doors for the people that are actually sacrificing in the same capacity like we are and doing it together, but also to publicize the miracles. It's a mitzvah (commandment) from the Torah to publicize HaKadosh Baruch Hu's name and how He brings miracles. And therefore, in this campaign, you'll see that there is a campaign, you'll see a video where it's a little small excerpt of different videos and letters and audios that some of our donors have sent in. There's a couple of dozen, or more than a couple of dozen of them on there. And then there is a link in there where you could actually see the full story, see a full, you know, one particular tzaddik (righteous individual) made a 15-minute recording, another one three minutes, another one four minutes, and then a few people, you know, wrote letters where literally you see the blessing that people have gotten as a result of donating to us over the years, especially this particular campaign, uh, where they got, uh, the, uh, the larger item, the, the bigger donations, and they got the personalized, uh, blessings from myself and from brother Efraim, alongside praying for them the whole holiday, and, uh, the, the miracles that people have told us that they got simply are unprecedented, from cures for cancer to having children later in life when you didn't even think you're going to ever get married, to begin with, to one that actually just got last night from one of my tzaddikim talmidim (righteous students). He said it to me, and I honestly didn't know that he had this until now, when he said, just aside from all of the stuff that you can see elsewhere in the other stories, he says, "The learning, the learning that he's had over this past year has surpassed everything he's done in the last three years combined," meaning he learned more Torah in one year than he learned in three years. This is a special level of siyata d'Shmaya (help from Heaven) only Torah learners can truly appreciate. Just imagine, you know, if you're in the business world, you're not really familiar with the Torah world and how much Torah learning and how difficult it is. Imagine one year worth of work is the equivalent of three years worth of efforts and surpasses it. This is the only thing you could somewhat compare it to.

This campaign is the most important one that we've had all these years because we've committed the most amount already ahead of time, and we pray and hope that you guys will join us, not only because we need as much help as possible and we need as many partners as possible, but simply put, we want more of you to get the miracles that everyone else has been getting over these years. I know that it's a sacrifice. I know that it could be expensive in some people's eyes, but when you compare it to the blessings, it's a discount. So with that being said, you're going to see this particular poster everywhere. Please share this with everyone, regardless of whether you donate a lot or a little or donate at all. Share these posters everywhere. Get your family, your friends, people that you know in your community to donate to the campaign. Watch the videos. See all the different amazing things that are on there because we really wanted to make it as clear as possible for people where is the right place to be partners with this year, Be'ezrat Hashem. The greatest investment that a person can possibly do is to invest as much as possible into tzedakah (charity).

Hi everyone, Be'ezrat Hashem's Rosh Hashanah campaign will be starting soon, and I want to give you my experiences with it. Hi, my name is Shmuel Levy. Shalom (Peace) everyone, my name is Yonatan. My name is Moshe, and I've been a contributor to Rabbi Yaron Reuven and by Efraim Joshua Shain's campaign since the start of my teshuva (repentance). Over the last couple of years, I was fortunate enough to partner with them during this campaign. I have seen protection from the Almighty and blessings for my family. What I love about the organization Be'ezrat Hashem is they're very, very clear on where the money is going. I just wanted to give a short video and tell everyone who have personally seen and experienced the miracles and the blessings that Hashem has given me and my family since I've started supporting Be'ezrat Hashem. My mother's cancer going into remission. My wife's pregnancy being easy and delivering healthy babies. I've seen many miracles, many blessings. I found a wife, had two amazing kids, had an increase in parnassah (livelihood). I would like to encourage everyone to become a partner with this organization. If you contribute to this campaign because there's not many like this, they give so much to Am Yisrael. And I truly believe one of the biggest reasons is because of supporting Be'ezrat Hashem and receiving a personal blessing. What Be'ezrat Hashem does is it makes you into a real authentic Jew according to the Torah. Because once you understand Hashem, once you know Hashem and you understand why things happen in the world, why things happen in your life, this is the biggest wealth that one can require. And this is the kind of wealth that no money in the world can buy. Only the performance of mitzvah and the study of Torah can buy you that. And I really invite everyone, ask that everyone participate for their sake and for the sake of Am Yisrael and obviously the sake of the world. I urge you to open up your heart, open up your wallet, support this incredible cause by donating. You're not only helping others, but you're also opening the door to divine blessings in your own life by really setting Hashem's children on the right track. Let's make a difference together, one person at a time. Thank you, and may Hashem bless all the sponsors and grow the Be'ezrat Hashem organization.

So we have a bunch of other things that are actually literally going to be announced later this week as well that are not related to the campaign, but we'll leave this at that. And Be'ezrat Hashem, later this week, we'll announce a couple of major projects that, Be'ezrat Hashem, are being launched this week, Be'ezrat Hashem.

So, we have a… Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk has given us extraordinary tools throughout the last six lectures that we've learned in this Tzetil Katan (Small Note). In last week's lecture, we really got a lachash. A lachash is, in essence, a statement that a person says when they understand what they're saying and why they're saying it. This lachash can be very, very effective, and the lachash that the Tzetil Katan provided us is one that can help a person defeat the evil that's within, all of the evil that's within us from the Yetzer Hara, whether it be anger or arrogance or any type of wicked type of thoughts that a person has. These types of things are going to come. Hashem is not putting us in a situation where He's expecting us not to have evil thoughts, not to have evil traits. He created us this way in order to overcome it. And we need as many tools as possible to overcome this, to overcome this fight that's within, in order to perfect ourselves little by little as we get closer and closer to HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

Now, this week is, in essence, the second part, the second part of this fifth chapter, where the Tzetil Katan is now going to provide us really insight into the windows to not only our soul but the windows to our blessings, where if a person thought about it, without even realizing what we're going to talk about yet, if you had a treasure, you had an extraordinary treasure, and you happen to have a window in this extraordinary room that's full of treasure, that's full of everything good that you could possibly ever possess. And not only that, you couldn't get rid of this window because it's also the way that new treasure comes in. Now, if you're a smart person, you wouldn't just leave this window open because obviously, bad things can come in also, like thieves, things that can damage it. At the same token, you have to figure out how to be wiser than anyone else by managing the timing of when that window should be open and when it should not.

And the Tzetil Katan is going to let us know some insights, just a little bit of insight into the heavenly world of Chassidut that tells us about these windows to this treasure chest that we have within us. These windows are windows that we all have, and once a person knows how to manage them, that person can not only protect the treasure that's within, all the good that's within, but could also allow a lot more good to come in as well. And he says as follows, after telling us about the lachash and how to be saved from it, Rabbi Elimelech says:

And you should also learn to restrict your field of vision. Here obviously, he's talking about our eyes, restrict your field of vision, that is not to look beyond your immediate perimeter, even when you are at home, and all the more so when you are in a synagogue, the study hall, or walking outside. If you happen to see a woman, even your own wife or your children and the like, you should picture the name of the Yud-Kei Vav-Kei (letters of G'd's name) of Hashem but the Alef, Dalet, Nun, Yud before you.

Here, Rabbi Elimelech is giving us something we haven't seen before, where not only is he telling us to protect our eyes from the things that are forbidden, whether it's promiscuity, immorality, immodesty, all the filth that's outside and everywhere, but he's also telling us to protect our neshama (soul) even from things that could sometimes be permitted, meaning get yourself used to thinking about Hashem to such a point that even when you look at your wife and children that are obviously beautiful to look at, at your wife and children, at your pride and joy, don't forget to think about Hashem. Why is this the case? Because these eyes that HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave you are not only the way that you can see the world, but it's also the way the world can enter you. And the more free you are with your eyes, the more you allow the world to impact you.

Now, I know that some of you that still have the poisonous news as part of your regiment on a daily basis heard about the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump. This, I actually got as a message from someone who got a message from somebody else that this is what happened today. And then I heard it from Rabbi Efraim, where he also heard it in that way because none of us watch the news. But of course, it was a big enough event that apparently, people are sharing it.

Now, what does it have to do with the Torah? Everything. When the sages told us to protect ourselves from what we see, they weren't just referring to, you know, the filth that's on the internet, on television, but also in the things in the streets. And while a person will realize, "Okay, listen, I won't look at things that are forbidden, I won't look at immorality, I won't look at pornography, I won't look at those things." They figure that, "Oh, if I watch the news, if I watch some shows, if I watch certain things, they won't affect me." It will always affect you. Why? Because all of these different things occupy space in your mind.

So that's why the daily shield that Rabbi Efraim gives is showing, highlighting an item that's on the news that particular day that people ask about and showing them where this is in the Torah. And today, he actually showed a very, very beautiful thing about where this assassination is in the Torah, and it certainly applies to our shield today, where in a matter of just a couple of months, if not less, this former president of the United States, Donald Trump, was nearly killed. And of course, you could talk about the Secret Service and the first one and the second one and the inside job and all that other stuff. But Rabbi Efraim wants to look at a different perspective. When will this end? That's the question. When will it end? The answer is, it won't. Why won't it end? Because the Torah says it won't.

In Parashat Vayishlach (Torah portion of Vayishlach), we hear about...in Sefer Bereshit (Book of Genesis), chapter 32, verse 25, we hear about the war between Yaakov (Jacob) and the angel of Esav (Esau), the angel of Adonai (Lord), and the Torah says, "When he perceived that he could not overcome him, he struck the socket of his hip." The angel saw...the angel of Esav saw that he cannot overcome Yaakov. So what did he do? He did something dirty. He used foul play. He did something that he wouldn't do otherwise, and that, in essence, is the way of Edom. The way of Edom, the way of the malach (angel) of Edom as well is, in essence, he's leading them is that they're going to do everything it takes to succeed, no matter how many...no matter how many tragedies are on the way, no matter how much collateral damage there is. Why? Because they have an agenda.

So when the lefty liberals, the anti-G-d, the atheists, the haters of the Torah are fighting against the Torah, they're going to do everything they possibly can, no questions asked, to get to their agenda. And of course, part of the lefty, liberal, anti-Torah also are against Donald Trump, not because Donald Trump is some holy person, but obviously, he's done certain things that were good and for the benefit of the Jewish people, even though, unfortunately, he's not exactly the biggest fan right now because of the whole thing with Bibi Netanyahu. If he only knew that Bibi Netanyahu is the worst representation of Judaism, not the best. His daughter converted to Judaism. So more or less, Donald Trump was on the good side, trying to do good, whereas the lefty, liberal has been anti-Torah, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-everything that has to do with G-d.

You see with what happened to society over the last several years, how this pro-LGBT and this pro-death, this pro-Satan, this pro-craziness that's been happening in the world, what happened to society here in America more than anywhere else, where literally people are dancing satanic dances in the middle of the street. People are destroying stores and all types of businesses just because they want to do it. You see how literally society, especially in America, has turned into Sodom and Gomorrah, and within a couple of years, all hell is broken loose. They're literally teaching pornography to children in schools, in public schools.

So you see what happened to society? Somebody is trying to fight it or at least a part of it, whether it's for his own agenda or not is a different story, but needless to say, he's fighting at least the evil, and he's winning. Last time they shut him down, but he didn't give up. He tried again. What did they do? They tried to kill him. After that failed, after that failed, they try new strategies, whether it's having all these secret knowledge of what's going to be told in a debate. I'm told somebody said that the Kamala Amalek was wearing some type of hearing device, she knew the answers before they asked her. Baruch Hashem, we were learning and giving a shiur at that time of the debate. We have no interest whatsoever in watching these debates, but again, you have to know some level of knowledge of what's happening in the world to show people where the Torah is. Where the Torah stands about everything.

So you see that this, they're doing all types of dirty tricks. And when that didn't work, and when that was exposed, what did they do? Try to kill him again. Try to kill him again. Is it going to end? No. Why? Because the malach of Edom, the more he sees that he cannot overcome him, the more he's going to do dirty things. Now, even though this is Edom versus Edom, we do know that there is certain things that are good that come out of Edom, as the Gemara (Talmud) says, "Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes came from Edom." Some of the greatest converts came from Edom. So Be'ezrat Hashem, we do hope that the good will come out of whatever happens, but regardless of who wins and who loses, the most critical thing that every Jew needs to know and every believer in the Torah needs to know that the Torah says, "The hearts of kings is in the hands of Hashem," meaning that it doesn't really matter who wins, Hashem still runs the world, and He's going to influence whoever He wants to influence, however He wants to influence them, which translates to if we do the will of Hashem, Hashem will influence whoever is the leader to benefit us. If we go against Hashem and continue being more and more degenerates like they're doing right now and for the last several years, literally destroying places, literally destroying entire cities in America… San Francisco has literally entire sections of it that are like practically be like the Mad Max movie from 50 years ago, 40 years ago. There's different places in America that you can't even enter. It's literally like destroyed, disheveled. You can't do business in certain places. Why? Because of what's happening, the mayhem that's out there.

So a person needs to know that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is running the show, and He's trying to let people know time is running out to do teshuva. Now, with that being said, how do we get on this good side of Hashem to have the heart of whoever the leader ends up being have that heart do good things, have those decisions be in our favor? How does a person even get themselves to a point where they could literally disregard the world around them because blessings will still enter their hearts, enter their lives, and they'll have a spiritual life and spiritual protection unlike anything else?

If you've seen some of the videos, or you will see some of the videos and the letters that people have written in this campaign, you see how some of them literally, they had things happen to them, but Hashem made it, like turned everything around as if the laws of nature don't apply. The laws of logic don't apply. The laws of science don't apply. Why? Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu runs the world. That's the point of publicizing a miracle, is to show people and remind them that HaKadosh Baruch Hu runs the world. And even though many times we have to deal with the Christian missionaries or the Muslim missionaries, there are many times we have to deal with the atheist missionaries that are more zealous than everybody else to tell everybody that there is no G-d according to them, but yet when you ask them, even if you want to believe that everything came from a single cell, where was the first cell come from? "Oh, I don't know." They don't know themselves anything, but yet they want to tell you what to know. But this is the reason why they have cursed lives. This is why you see, if you follow, if you track the lives of any of these atheists, the more famous they are, the more disastrous their lives are.

So how does a person tune their life to actually receive as many blessings as possible, regardless of what's happening in the world? It all starts with the eyes. It all starts with those windows to your soul because those windows to your soul are the windows to all the blessings. And that's, in essence, what Rabbi Elimelech starts off with. The eyes were so important that Rabbi Elimelech is telling us that a person has to train themselves to live with such a way where they're only looking at what's within them, within four amot (cubits), that's six feet. Don't look down the street. Don't look far away. Look at everything that's within your six feet, within you. That's how you operate. That'll save you a lot of trouble. If there's immodesty, you won't see it. If there's a billboard, you won't see it.

You say, "Wait, I can't enjoy life." Wrong. You can certainly enjoy life a whole lot more because now that you're protecting your eyes, only blessings are coming in. This was so important to the Chachamim (wise men) in past generations to just in the last generation. We had Rabbi Aaron Rata. He's the one that wrote one of the most important sefarim (books) in the last hundred years about the issues of morality, Tikkun HaBrit (Rectification of the Covenant). He also wrote about the issues of, you know, eating, proper eating, and certainly the ability to sanctify food. There's literally a way to sanctify food because when you eat, and you say Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals), it's supposed to be like a sacrifice to Hashem.

And Rabbi Aaron Rata took his son, and his son told the story when his son was just a little boy. Now, if this was done today in today's world of political correctness and lefty liberalism and atheism, they'd probably put the father in jail for such a thing, but if you change gender, they give you a trophy, they put you on TV. So anyway, Rabbi Aaron Rata's son told the story that when he was a little boy, his father, the tzaddik, took him to a certain place in the woods where there were predatory birds. Really dangerous birds there.

As they got there, he told his son, "See all these birds are flying? He says, 'These birds, they're dangerous. Why? They are always looking for prey, but they look for easy prey. And one of the things they always target is eyes. They start off with the eyes because if they get the eyes, usually that means dinner is going to be served. So don't look. Don't look up.'" And the kid, of course, as kids get impacted by this stuff, much more than adults, he was so scared, he looked down the whole time. And for the next six hours, they stood there walking around, just looking down the whole time. And he says, "That's when my father taught me how I can live happily, safely, full of blessings by just looking at the four amot around me, the six feet around me."

Now, this same tzaddik, this same tzaddik, Rabbi Aaron Rata, wrote about food and how you can sanctify food. Many times, people have perhaps the ability to control their eyes of not looking at certain things that are inappropriate on the internet, but when it comes to looking at a menu, it might as well be pornography for them. They order the whole menu. They can't control themselves. They can't stop eating. They can't stop drinking. It doesn't matter to them. Go...it's almost like they're on a race at all times, and they don't realize that the food is not supposed to be just for the sake of eating. You can also sanctify the food. Anyone that watched the Jewish Intimacy series that we did based on the Iggeret Hakodesh (Holy Letter) of the Ramban (Nachmanides) knows that food is something that's very, very holy if you know how to use it.

One example that Rabbi Efraim writes in his new sefer that we have in the Kiruv store about last week's parashah (Torah portion), Parashat Ekev (Torah portion of Ekev), he says there was a… the Rebbe of Kotzk, who was an ish kodesh (holy man), full of Torah, full of kedusha (holiness), very, very zealous. His own talmidim were petrified of him, you know, because they wanted to…they wanted to serve Hashem like he was, and they knew that there's no free compliments. But one time they heard the Rebbe tell them that he's inviting a certain Mekubal, a Chasid (follower of Chasidic Judaism) Mekubal that is a very holy person. Of course, if the Rebbe is inviting somebody, obviously this person must be amazing. He says, "I want everyone to get involved because when I invited this tzaddik to come, he told me there's not going to be enough food." Why? Because he…he fasts, this tzaddik, he fasts from week to week. He doesn't eat the whole week, from Shabbat to Shabbat. There's certain tzaddikim that fasted a whole week, every week, not once a year, once a lifetime, every week they would fast a whole week, and then they would eat on Shabbat. They sanctified their body to the point where literally they were able to survive this way and not only survive but some of them, like this particular tzaddik, were able to sanctify the food in such a way that you'll see is something completely unusual.

Now, this tzaddik said, "Listen, there's not going to be enough food." And the Rebbe of Kotzk told him, "No, no, no. I promise you, you're going to have food. Don't worry." "Okay, if you say, I'll come." So the Rebbe of Kotzk told him, to his kehilla (community), his community, "I need everybody to get involved with somebody very special coming. Bring your food, so everybody bring their fish, their challah, their whatever it is, but don't eat until he finishes." Okay, so they brought him, sat down, they did the…they did the kiddush, drank the wine, and now the challah. And the Mekubal takes a piece of the challah, and he eats a little more, a little more, a little more, and everyone's watching this, how much he's eating so quickly. Before you know it, he finished the entire challah. And then he goes on to the second challah. And more, and more, and more, and everyone's watching, baffled. Well, apparently, he's been hungry, he hasn't eaten all week, so, okay, so he's eating a lot of bread, fine. He eats the entire second challah.

Quickly, they bring the soup. And they serve him the soup, and he drinks the soup, and he eats the soup. And before you know it, the entire pot of the soup is gone. He said, "That's it?" "No, no, no, no, of course." They bring the fish. Everybody brought some fish. And before you know it, he eats one fish after another, after another. Everyone is simply baffled at how one person, this little person, can eat so much, where does it go? And he's eating all of this, and all the Chasidim, forgetting about the fact that they have no food to eat themselves because he hasn't finished yet. They were hoping that perhaps maybe when we get to the fish since he ate all of the challah, he ate the whole pot of the soup, perhaps we'll have some leftovers when it comes to the fish.

But to their dismay, all of the fish are gone. He says, "No, that's no more food." "No, no, no, no, Rebbe (teacher) is coming." Quickly, they brought the pots with all the chickens, and before you know it, one chicken after another chicken after another chicken. The chicken's gone. He looks up. "Oh, no, it's done, finished?" "No, no, no, no, Rebbe, don't worry about…" They bring the cholent from…for the next day, tomorrow in the morning. There's the one thing that there's always a lot of...Am Yisrael has always had children. Doesn't matter what house you're in, there's always a lot of cholent on Shabbat. Whether you have just you and your family or you have 10 guests, there's always leftover cholent. They bring the entire pot of cholent. And this tzaddik eats the entire pot of cholent by himself.

Quickly, they bring whatever is going to be for tzudash (snacks/refreshments). All the different food that was going to be for tzudash. And as soon as he finishes that, he looks up. "That's it?" And the Rebbe of Kotzk said, "Yeah, we gave you everything for the kiddush today, everything for tomorrow, and even seudah shlishit (third Shabbat meal). Ah, you see? I told you there's not going to be enough food." So Rebbe of Kotzk says, "Listen, I knew that you were a malach (angel), but I didn't know that you were a seraf (fiery angel)," like a fiery angel, meaning that he has sanctified himself in such a way that the food did not occupy space.

This, I know, is far, far away from anything that we can imagine, but this is just to give you an example of something that happened just a couple of hundred years ago, less, of how certain people that dedicated their life to serving Hashem by learning His Torah, by dedicating their life to the Torah, they did certain things that is not expected of us, but nonetheless, they were able to find ways to uncover, uncover certain gates in heaven that are available now. The beautiful thing is is that you don't need to do what he did to open up the gate of heaven for you personally. What you have to do is what we just said, just protect the gates you have. Protect those eyes because once a person protects their eyes, first and foremost, whatever good is already within you is going to be preserved.

Your good feelings towards your wife, your good feelings towards your children, your good feelings towards your husband, your appreciation for what they are certainly is going to be magnified the more you protect your eyes. A man that looks at other women, his wife will never be beautiful in his eyes. Whatever beauty she has will always be temporary. Why? Because he's constantly comparing her to other people.

A woman that watches movies, that watches shows, that watches, uh, all types of music videos and sees all types of so-called attractive people in the media, in the magazines, all these magazines that are full of filth, that woman is never going to be happy, not with herself and not with her situation in life. Why? She's constantly subconsciously comparing herself to everybody else. This is the reason why anyone that uses social media for the sake of looking at other people's lives is a miserable person. Why? Because they're always looking at all types of things, and they become jealous. They look at all types of things, and they start becoming someone that is unhappy with whatever they have.

So when a person protects their eyes and does not look at places that they shouldn't automatically, whatever you already have you start appreciating it much more. Your wife is always beautiful to you. Anytime she has a…she gets dressed for Shabbat, or anytime she gets out in the morning, she puts a little makeup on, or whatever she does in the morning, to you, it's like, "Wow, she's so beautiful. You're so amazing." Now, she thinks you're kidding because to her it's like, "Yeah, what do you mean? We're married for 20 years. What beautiful, what are you talking about? It's the same thing as yesterday." But to you, it's as great as it could be. Well, you don't look at anything else. This is the greatest thing in the world. I can't believe you're so beautiful. Why did you choose me? Wow, you picked me! I can't believe I'm so lucky. Why? Because she's literally the most beautiful woman in your eyes. Why? There is nothing else in your eyes. You don't look at anything else. There's nothing to compare it to. So her beauty is preserved and magnified to the highest extent.

But when a person looks at other women on a regular basis, especially guys that have businesses where they deal with women, you know, Hashem Yerachem (G'd have mercy), people that like DJs and promoters or barbers and all types of people that deal with women or sell women's clothes, those people, if they even are able to maintain a marriage without adultery, their marriage is unfortunately always on shaky ground. Why? Subconsciously, they're always going to compare their wife to somebody else. And chas v'shalom (G'd forbid), that somebody else gives them their time of the day or gives them attention. And the Satan always sends them.

So what ends up happening is that when a person protects their eyes, automatically, they're able to protect whatever good HaKadosh Baruch Hu already gave them. They're able to appreciate it even more so. This window is the same window that allows more good to come because when a person protects their eyes, they're also protecting the covenant. They're protecting the covenant between them and HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

Now, in last week's parashah, when you go out to war, and the sages teach us this war is not just the war against Amalek that's outside that's trying to kill you physically, but also the Amalek that's within, the Yetzer Hara that's within. This Amalek is constantly trying to destroy you within and without. And one of the things that the parashah tells us last week is to be careful for all issues of immorality. And when such a thing happens in the community, there's no permission whatsoever to be lenient and just say, "Ah, come on, it's not a big deal." There's no permission to do such a thing. Why? You have to remove the evil from Am Yisrael because even though that evil that they did may not seem like it's affecting you, how do you know it's not affecting your kids? How do you know it's not affecting your neighbor? How do you know it's not affecting certain things now?

What kind of evil are we talking about? The Torah says, in last week's parashah, "There shall not be a promiscuous woman among the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be a promiscuous man among the sons of Israel." In so many words, Torah says promiscuity is forbidden. But the Chachamim (wise men) come, and they tell us this is not just as simple as what it says, but rather this is a commandment on the Rabbis of the communities, on the Batei Dinim (Jewish courts).

And the Ramban says, "This commandment is directed to the courts, the Jewish courts, instructing them not to permit such people who make themselves available constantly for sexual activity by parading themselves in public to indicate their availability and to prevent the establishment of places where such activities take place." In so many words, the Torah is actually specifically addressing all of the filth that you find, unfortunately, in the world today, where there is literally established places where people are promoting this stuff, whether they're promoting the next march that they're going to celebrate their promiscuity in Tel Aviv, in New York, in San Francisco. That's what the whole movement is about. It's, in so many words, celebrating promiscuity, celebrating perversion, celebrating sodomy.

The Jewish community cannot be like this. If the goyim (non-Jews) want to do it, that's their problem with G-d, but in our holy communities, such things are not allowed, meaning that if somebody is one of those, and they want to flaunt their perversion, they want the whole world to know what they do behind closed doors, then we cannot listen to perverts like Ephraim Mirvis from England that tells people, "Yeah, we should welcome them, we should treat them well." There is no such thing. Why? If they're doing it behind closed doors and not flaunting it, and nobody knows about it, it's not for us to deal with, but if they're flaunting it and in essence trying to recruit other people to do it, in essence, they're celebrating their war against G-d, then not only are we not allowed to welcome them, we have to kick them out. Why? They're desecrating G-d's name openly. They're desecrating the Torah openly.

But when you have faulty rulings, such as this Ephraim Mirvis and all of the other perverts that are doing the same thing, what ends up happening is that this brings not only curses to individuals, this brings curses to communities at large. And that's where we come into this week's parashah with...this week's parashah is by far the scariest parashah in the Torah, Parashat Ki Tavo (Torah Portion of Ki Tavo). We're not going to go into the curses. We've done that in past years. We're really going to try to highlight the blessings because the blessings not only are something we haven't covered enough, but they're so good, and they're so delicious that it really highlights how stupid a person has to be to miss out on them because they're so easily available.

Parashat Ki Tavo begins by telling us that there are things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu created in the world that will allow us to never have anything missing. Any joy that you could possibly want is available to you. There's just a kosher way of doing it. In the Gemara in Massechet Chullin (Tractate of Chullin), page 109b, the Gemara says, "For everything that a person is forbidden to do by the Torah, there is the same flavor, there is the same pleasure available to them in a kosher way." For example, if somebody had the desire to go and marry a non-Jewish woman, the Torah says, of course, you're not allowed to do that, but you can marry a convert. And in fact, a convert, a righteous convert is considered higher spiritually than a natural-born Jew. She'll be an extra tzaddeket (righteous woman) for you, chazak u'baruch (be strong and blessed).

You want to marry a non-Jewish man, instead of that, marry a convert. Somebody like the tzaddik that sent me the letter yesterday. This guy is a convert, and he's finishing the Shas (Talmud). I mean, the angels in Shamayim (Heaven) must be dancing on a regular basis just for him and his wife. How to go from there to there? This is praise for both him and his wife. There has to be like a special section in Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) and just dancing for them. How a person could take themselves from places of idolatry and elevate themselves to such an extent where they're not only publicizing Torah, promoting Torah, learning Torah, but with such dedication and zeal that they're literally going to finish the Shas. And this is just one of many times he's going to finish it. For such a person, this is as great as it could be. But this also shows the rest of us what's possible, what's available. And there's no doubt in my mind that many more miracles follow that because I've seen them myself. I've seen them with Rabbi Efraim. I've seen them with myself. I've seen them with other students. What happens when a person goes on such a path?

So if a person has the crazy desire to marry a non-Jew, Hashem says, "You're allowed to enjoy that by simply marrying a convert." And in fact, that could be the greatest marriage in the world if you pick the right one unless you pick the wrong one. Some people pick the wrong one. Why? There are certain people that pretend like they want to convert or pretend like they want to do the right thing. I'll give you an example. There was a story publicized by the Rishon Letzion some time ago. The story itself took place maybe around 16, 17 years ago. And he says that years ago, there was a non-Jewish woman who lived in Morocco and converted to Judaism.

After she converted, shortly after, she had a girl. She had a baby, baby girl, daughter, and they moved to France. When they moved to France, they moved to an Ashkenazi community, and the Ashkenazi community told them, "Listen, the conversion you did in Morocco is not sufficient by our standards. You have to convert again, and with your daughter this time." So she did it. 20 years later, the daughter is now no longer a baby. She's 20 years old, 20-something years old. She wants to get married, and just so happened that the guy that she wants to marry is a Kohen (priest), is a Jew that's from a family of Kohanim. Everyone knows that Torah forbids a Kohen to marry a convert, not because the convert is no good, but simply because HaKadosh Baruch Hu has a match for every single person, has a role for every single person, and that's it.

There are certain natural-born Jews that the Kohen is not allowed to marry. If the woman was promiscuous with non-Jews, he's not allowed to marry her. If she's a divorcee, he's not allowed to marry her. There are certain Jews that he's not allowed to marry either. It's not just converts. But of course, he wasn't exactly the most religious, and she wasn't exactly the most religious, and they were trying to change the laws. Why? They weren't happy with what the rabbi said. So what did they say? "Listen, this is ridiculous. We want to get married. She's not really a convert. Haman converted in Morocco before she came to Paris and converted again. We only converted because the Ashkenazi community, perhaps maybe they were prejudiced, or they weren't this or they weren't that, and they made us convert. So we just converted, but really my mom knew that she didn't need to convert, so the second conversion is null and void."

And they brought this to the chief rabbi of France at the time, a tzaddik by the name of Rav Yosef Sitruk. Rav Yosef Sitruk, S-I-T-R-U-K. And this Rav Sitruk was a tzaddik, a talmid chacham (Torah scholar), and he got the news when they got word from Israel from some beit din in Israel that agreed with the couple said, "Listen, seems like what you're saying is right, this Ashkenazi community in France was wrong to convert your mom again, you guys can get married." Of course, they can say whatever they want. They still have to be…if they live in a certain place, they have to comply with the rules. So they come to Rav Sitruk and say, "Listen, either you allow us to get married, and everyone is going to accept us, or we're going to go to a Reform rabbi, and he's going to convert us," showing the rabbi, showing the community that he really cares about Torah.

But Rav Sitruk knew that he doesn't have much time. He sent a question to Rav Ovadia Yosef. Rav Ovadia was in the middle of studying Torah, as he always was. They bring this question as time is of the essence, and they tell him the story. Rav Ovadia says, "Who is the rabbi that converted the mother 20 years ago in Morocco?" And as soon as they tell Rav Ovadia the name, immediately his face stands up with seriousness. He says, "Of course, the conversion is not allowed. I already told everyone years ago that all of his conversions are not valid, and when I was a rabbi in Tel Aviv over there, I passed p'sak (ruling) against him that all conversions coming from him are not valid. The woman was not a convert, and therefore the Ashkenazi beit din in France was correct to make her convert again with her daughter, and therefore the daughter is a convert, and she is not allowed to marry this Kohen. If they want to threaten us by saying they're going to go to Reform, it doesn't make a difference. Our Torah doesn't change. They want to go marry with Reform, they go marry with Reform. It's not our business. Our business is, our Torah doesn't change."

See here, you see how not only was this something known, but also something that if it wasn't for the Yirat Shamayim (fear of Heaven), the fear of heaven, of the chief rabbi of France, Rav Sitruk, they could have easily fell for the Satan's trap by listening to some rabbis in Israel that were not aware of the whole situation made a faulty mistake, a mistake, a faulty ruling that almost caused these people to literally bring problems to the world. So you see that sometimes the issues of conversion seem one thing, but they end up being another. It could be good, or it could also be bad. It all depends. But Torah says that if you want to benefit from this pleasure, you can, and you can in the greatest way, but you yourself have to follow the Torah.

And so today, if a person wants to enjoy...The Gemara says, "If a person wants to enjoy the taste of milk and meat, there's the chalav (milk), the chalav is the udders of the cow where they have their kosher...the whole cow is kosher except the back part, where is the gid hanasheh (sciatic nerve), but the rest of the chalav you can eat, and the chalav you can eat, and that has the flavor because obviously, the milk was there of milk and meat, but it's kosher. If a person has a desire for an eshet ish (another man's wife), a married woman, Torah says you can marry a divorced woman after she divorces if you have a crazy desire for something like that. There is a way to enjoy that desire in a kosher way.

Somebody has a desire that this week's parashah, Parashat Ki Tavo, says somebody that does it is cursed from Heaven: somebody that goes with his brother's wife. Some people have this horrible way about them where they are very free with their body and the way they express themselves, and they kiss everyone and hug everyone even if it's somebody else's wife. This is the craziest thing about all these mixed dancing parties that people have, and they not only dance with their wives in public, but they let other people dance with their wives. I never understood that. Even as a secular person in my sinful days in the past, many years ago, I still never understood. I never did such a thing. Why would anybody allow somebody else to dance with their wife? Why would you feel comfortable dancing with somebody's wife? I never understood that. But nonetheless, people are stupid, and they allow this, and then they're surprised that there's divorce, there's adultery, and everything else.

But Torah says, "Listen, if you have this crazy desire, there's a way that the Torah permits such a thing." How? If a person's brother dies, and he's married to a woman without having kids, there's a permissible way, in fact, to even make a mitzvah, which is yibum (levirate marriage). If the brother dies with, you know, he was married but without kids, then there is yibum. If he has the desire for blood, to eat blood, you're allowed to eat liver, kosher liver, as long as you know how to cook it, and there's a certain way that you have to open up each part because there's a lot of blood in it. You have to split it, you have to grill it. You can't just bake it or do other things. You have to really put it on a grill, but nonetheless, there's a way to eat liver kosher.

The point is that even if a person has the desire to eat pig, there's a fish called shibuta, and there's also a certain duck that they grow in Japan. They both have the same flavor as pig. And the point of all of this is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "My rules, My mitzvot do not cause you any type of lackings because anything that you would crave, there is a kosher way to fulfill it." And HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not give you a craving that you cannot fulfill, meaning anyone that would have that particular craving in a normal fashion, Hashem will also allow him the way to fulfill that craving if necessary. He's not going to give you a test you can't pass. But unfortunately, people put tests on themselves, and therefore they fail, not because of Hashem putting them in a certain circumstance, but rather because they put themselves in that circumstance.

And that's where we go to the next section of Parashat Ki Tavo, where Moshe (Moses) Rabbeinu (our teacher) tells us that all of these blessings that you can possibly imagine are here and waiting for you on this day that you became HaKadosh Baruch Hu's nation.

“You have distinguished Hashem today to be a G-d for you and to walk in His ways and to observe His decrees, His commandments, and His statutes and to hearken to His voice. And Hashem distinguished you today to be for Him a treasured people, as He spoke to you, to observe all His commandments and to make you supreme over all the nations that He made for praise, for renown, and for splendor and so that you will be a holy people to Hashem, your G-d, as He spoke.”

Hashem is specifically telling Am Yisrael, "You have the opportunity to not only be blessed but blessed in ways beyond all of your imaginations, blessed in ways beyond all of the things that people are jealous of." People are constantly looking at the goyim and thinking they may have a better life. Hashem says, "I gave you the opportunity to actually have more blessing than all of the nations, more joy than all of the nations." Even though the Torah has restrictions, those restrictions are not losses. Those restrictions are gains. There's just a way to benefit in a kosher way.

And then He tells us something unbelievable, where we can get these blessings with such abundance that it's beyond our imagination, where Hashem says, "If you listen to My Torah," in chapter 28, "Then Hashem, your G-d, will make you supreme over all the nations of the earth. All of these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you hearken to the voice of Hashem, your G-d." V'hisigucha (and they shall overtake you). What's v'hisigucha? It translates to "overtake you," but what does that actually mean? It means that Hashem has a treasure chest full of blessings waiting for each and every one of you that are so abundant that it's beyond what you can possibly imagine, to the point that it's beyond anything you can even handle. It's like so delicious, you don't even know what to do with it. So good, you don't even know that such a thing is even possible in a physical world. You thought that only good things like this are available in Heaven. Shep (G'd) says, "No, no, even in this world, I have blessings waiting for you that are available. And they're in such abundance they'll overtake you."

"You'll be blessed in the city and in the field," meaning wherever you go, people are going to see, they're going to see it upon you, whatever that is that's a person special. You're a holy person. You're something special. "I want to be next to you. I want to do business with you. I want to be next to you. I want to talk to you. I don't know. I'll just sit there. I won't bother you. Just let me be next to you." You'll become a magnet. But only for good. "Baruch pe'ri betnecha" (Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb). "Baruch pe'ri admatekha" (Blessed shall be the fruit of your ground). This, honestly, for anyone who has raised kids is enough. If everything else was not available, this will be enough. "Baruch pe'ri betnecha" meaning not only to have kids, but good kids.

Unfortunately, there are many people that have kids, sometimes they wish they didn't because the kids are rotten, disrespectful, disgusting behavior. All they bring is problems to the family. All they do is disrespect the parents. All they steal from their parents. They curse them out. They, you know, they do all types of horrible things. They're drug addicts, degenerates. And by the way, many of those people you probably have seen on the…on TV, you've seen them in the movies, all these so-called celebrities. Very often, you don't see them with their kids. It's not because they're hiding their kids because they're trying to keep their privacy. Many times because their kids are high somewhere or in some type of institution. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "Just one, one of those many blessings is to not only have kids, but good ones. And not only you'll have the fruit of your ground, you'll have money, but it'll be blessed money."

What's blessed money? You'll never lack for anything. I know some people that they make no less than $100,000 a month. Maybe even two or three times that. Maybe two or three times that. But they're always struggling. Now, that $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 profit, it's not like it's $300,000 revenues. Like, you know, there's some companies that are huge companies. They make billions of dollars, but they still lose money. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about they actually make profits. But they're always struggling. Why? Because every month there's unexpected expenses. Bills from the IRS. Bills from some lawsuit. Bills from some problem, accident, tragedy, you know, all types of horrible things. Every month, it's the same thing.

So when you ask, "Melissa, oh, by the way, we have a campaign. Donate for holidays." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, okay, yeah." "Oh, yeah, now?" "Wow, I'm struggling right now." "What's struggling? You make $2 million a year, $3 million a year." "Yeah, but you don't understand. It was a tough year last year." "Tough year last year. You have a commercial on national television. The commercial cost a million dollars. How are you struggling?" "No, but you don't understand. My wife, she left. She wants half of it. She wants this. She wants that." Oh, okay. You don't have blessings. You have money, but you don't have blessings. The vast majority of people out there that have money do not have blessings, even if they have stuff. They have a car. They have a house. They have many houses. They have this. But you'll see they don't have blessings. Why? There's something missing. There's something critical, the essence of life, the essence of the blessed life is missing.

So what they try to do is they try to silence that misery by getting more material, getting more cars, getting more watches, getting more stuff. It's like putting more seasoning on filth to make it lose the bad smell, but in reality, at the end, it's still filth. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "When you follow the Torah, that's available to you. It's available for you to have a blessing, a blessing in the money you have where you're never going to lack anything, but even more so, whatever you do have, you'll be able to enjoy it." And as I highly recommend, people read this parashah in their first language with commentary by Rashi, but even without the commentary by Rashi, you'll understand the literal meaning of everything, of the blessings and the curses, to a certain extent. But I highly recommend people really just look at this parashah, Parashat Ki Tavo, b'khol derachecha da'eihu (in all your ways know Him), and start comparing these things to their life. Which one of these do I have? If you find yourself more often on the blessing side, that's a good sign. But if you find yourself more often on the cursed side, that's also a good sign. Why? It means your eyes are still working, and you can identify that there's a problem. But if you're simply deluding yourself to think you have a blessed life when you only have problems, then perhaps it's time to investigate what you need to change.

The blessings are so amazing and so clear that in one of the verses in chapter 28, verse 12, Hashem says outright, "Hashem yiftach lecha et otzaro hatov" (Hashem will open up for you His treasure of good). That's what it means, "Hashem yiftach lecha et otzaro hatov" (Hashem shall open His storehouse of goodness for you). Why? For following the Torah. For building a sukkah (booth). For fasting on Yom Kippur. For celebrating Rosh Hashanah like you're supposed to. For keeping Shabbat, for protecting your eyes, protecting your brit (covenant), for simply following the Torah. He's not telling you, "Listen, you have to fly to Mars without any rockets, without any parachutes, without anything. You just simply have to find a way to fly in the air." No, He's not telling you to do that. He's not telling you to climb Mount Everest without shoes on. He's not telling you that. He's not telling you to go and swim across the Atlantic Ocean without even learning how to swim yet. He's not telling you that. All He's saying is, "Follow what the Torah says." That's it.

And all of this is available to you, literally an unlimited amount of blessings. An unlimited amount of blessings are available to Am Yisrael when they follow the Torah, so much so that HaKadosh Baruch Hu makes it literally idiot-proof, to tell you, "What, you worried about money? You worried about…you think, 'Oh, maybe I only give you spiritual, uh, benefits, or maybe I only give you kids, or maybe...' "No, no, you won't even lack money. Well, "Hashem yiftach lecha et otzaro hatov" (Hashem shall open for you His storehouse of goodness), meaning the whole bank will be available to you."

And if that's not enough, "u'l'varech et kol ma'aseh yadecha" (and to bless all your handiwork). Meaning everything you'll do will be blessed, meaning even if you make a mistake, Hashem will make that mistake a benefit. Sort of like how they tried to make a special glue. To make…there was a government research, some company made a major research, and the research, after spending an enormous amount of time and money, it failed miserably. It did not reach anywhere near its goal. But that didn't matter. Why? Hashem wanted to bless that company, and He allowed them to make that into what's called Post-it notes. Post-it notes, which I think everyone in the civilized world knows what that is and has used them, was actually a mistake. It was an engineering mistake, but it ended up becoming a multi-billion dollar product. And there are many things like it, where somebody made a mistake, but that's where the blessing came from.

And that's where HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "u'l'varech et kol ma'aseh yadecha" (I'll bless all your handiwork), meaning that it doesn't matter...it's not telling you that you're always going to be right. He's telling you that even when you make a mistake, "I'll turn it around and make it into a blessing." And for what? For what simple? "Ki im sh'moa tishma el mitzvot Hashem Elokeicha" (because you shall only because you shall follow the commandments that I give you today to observe and to perform them). That's it. Just follow the Torah. And the more a person looks at the blessings that are available, the more you'll be baffled at how the Yetzer Hara, the Satan within, will convince you to follow the things that bring curses, well, after last week's warning, before you go to a war, before you go outside, before you go to shul, before you go to the beit midrash, before you go to work, before you go to the supermarket, Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk tells you, "Be prepared for that war. Only look within the four amot. Why? If you look further, you're opening up yourself to vulnerability. You're not going to the war with the right weapon." "Ah, come on, what's the big deal?"

The big deal is this. When a person is not going to war prepared, then they're opening themselves up for the following. HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, in the same parashah, "Arur makleh aviv v'imo v'amar kol ha'am amen" (Accursed is the one who degrades his father and mother, and the entire people shall say Amen). A person who does not want to listen to the Torah is also a person that's going to disrespect his family, that's going to disrespect his parents, and that, in itself, brings a curse on a person. Unfortunately, I've had this terrible experience where I've seen people literally disrespect their parents right in front of me without even realizing they're disrespecting them. They'll call their mother by their first name, or they'll tell them, "Ah, come on, you're stupid," like they talk to them like they're friends. They don't realize right that second, right that second, you just got cursed from all the tzaddikim. Moshe Rabbeinu, Avraham Avinu, Yitzchak (Isaac), Yaakov, all the tzaddikim cursed you. Why? Look how you're behaving. You just called your parents stupid. You just told them they don't know what they're talking about.

A person has to know that if you don't have respect for your parents, for sure you're going to go against G-d. For sure. If you can't respect your physical, biological parents, certainly you're going to disrespect your Creator. It's just a matter of time, if not happening at the same time. So Torah says that person already..."Arur masig gvul re'ehu v'amar kol ha'am amen" (Cursed is the one who moves the boundary of his fellow, and the entire people shall see him). If you don't respect your parents, it's either simultaneously or thereafter or before you're also going to not respect your neighbor and other people's property. And when a person is disrespectful to other people's property, so much so that they take what doesn't belong to them, that, in itself, imprints within their mind that they're allowed, "Whatever I want, whenever I want," mentality.

And the way they conduct themselves in business is they'll borrow money they know they can't return. In fact, with an intention not to return. They'll borrow, they'll take something on consignment. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll take this from you, I'll sell it, and I'll give you the money." And then they'll sell what they got...what they borrowed from somebody else below the actual cost. Why? Because they're not planning on returning this other guy the money. They just want to get capital quickly. That transaction, that person, that life becomes cursed. Why? Simple. A mentality, a mentality where other people's property is less significant than your own. How many people do each of us know that treat everyone else's property as if it's meaningless and their own as if it's superior?

"Arur meshaggeh iver ba'derech" (A curse is the one who causes a blind person to go astray on the road). This is people that are misleading the public, lying to them, heretics, apikorsim (heretics), people who are not true to themselves, that simply misguide others, are people that are causing the blind person to go astray. It's not physically blind only. It's people that are blind in other ways, where they don't know the truth, and they come to you because they rely on you, but instead of being a good teacher, instead of being a good friend, what do you do? You get them to where you want them to be. You get them to where you want them to be. This happens, unfortunately, in every aspect of life. The worst part is that sometimes the so-called teacher is worse than the predator you find in the zoo.

"Arur asheh mishpat ger, yatom v'almanah" (A curse is the one who perverts judgment). This, unfortunately, is one of the things the Gemara says in Massechet Sanhedrin (Tractate of Sanhedrin) and other places, "Mashiach (Messiah) is not going to come until all these perverted dayanim (judges)...dayanim that are not like Rav Sitruk, not like Rav Ovadia, not like the tzaddikim that are willing to sacrifice everything just for the truth." There are, unfortunately, some judges that will do everything in their power to manipulate the truth, like the court in Israel called the Bagatz that perverts every rule possible just to go against the Torah. Even if it hurts themselves, they don't care. As long as it goes against the Torah. Unfortunately, sometimes this is also the case within places where it's supposed to be religious people. When somebody comes to them for advice, instead of giving them advice, they send them on a mission to destroy somebody that they've turned into an enemy.

"Arur shochev im eshet aviv" (A curse is the one who lies with the wife of his father). "Arur shochev im behemah" (A curse is the one who lies with any animal). "Arur shochev im achato" (A curse is the one that lies with his sister). "Arur shochev im chotanto" (A curse is the one that lies with his mother-in-law). These are all different immorality. What do they have to do with each other? Simple. If a person is going to make the windows to his soul available to all open at all times, 24/7, thinking that, "Okay, so maybe I'm a little bit lenient when it comes to business laws. Maybe I'm a little bit lenient when it comes to Shabbat. Maybe I'm a little bit lenient with my language. Maybe I'm a little bit lenient with my prayer." Habibi (my dear), it's only a matter of time before you become lenient with things that today you think are completely horrendous. That's what Torah is trying to tell you. The first thing seemed like, "Oh, come on, okay, maybe I disrespect. Who doesn't disrespect their parents once in a while?" Yeah, making a mistake is one thing, but making it a lifestyle is something else. Why? Because ...if you go on that route, don't think that the worst of worst that's mentioned in these curses, of incest and immorality and bestiality and LGBTQ, don't think that's too far. Why? Just like the Gemara in Massechet Shabbat says on page 108, "If you follow the Satan today, you'll follow him tomorrow and the next day. And the next thing, before you know it, he'll bring you to idol worship." Once you decide that you're going to follow the Satan, once you decide that you're going to follow the Yetzer Hara, you're going to follow your lust, you're going to follow your desires to fulfill your desires, there's no end to how bad it can be.

So much so that a person can get to the worst part, which it says, "Arur asher lo yakim et divrei haTorah hazot la'asot otam v'amar kol ha'am amen." (Accursed is the one who will not uphold the words of this Torah to perform them, and the entire people shall say Amen.) That's a person that simply decides not to follow the Torah, to be a secular person, or worse, to be a heretic that teaches heresy, supports heresy. A person that gets in the way of the Torah truth getting to people, all these types of people are in the same basket that will eventually be a basket that's dipped in Gehenna (hell) permanently. Why? Because they made a decision to get in the way of the Torah.

And that, Rabotai (my friends), is also available. But who would want this? Why would anybody want any of these curses? Every normal person that's listening to this says, "Okay, you know what? Maybe I need to get a little bit better with my respect for my parents. Okay, maybe I need to get a little bit better with my…the way I conduct my business. Okay, maybe I need to get better with a little bit with the way I rule things or the way I look at things, fine. But this other stuff, of immorality, of going against…" No, that's not me. I want the blessings. Well, guess what? In Judaism, in the way of Torah, there is no neutral. Either you're on the way up to get the blessings, or you're on the way down to get the curses. There is no neutral, meaning if you don't start controlling those windows to your soul, protecting your eyes from what you see and only allowing the good to enter, or at the very least trying your best to control yourself a little more each day, if you're not going to do that, then guess what? You're going to fall further and further.

Before you know it… I know some guys that I know from when they were kids. We grew up together. Okay, so some guys did this, some guys did that, some guys did this, some guys did that, but everybody, you know, grows up eventually. Some people didn't. Some people, they may have grown up in age, but as far as mental capacity, they literally destroyed themselves. You see them today, they look like they're 95 years old, complete degenerate losers, nothing to speak for themselves. They failed in every aspect of life. By choice. By choice. Why? They continued going to nightclubs. They continued living that life. They continued taking drugs. They continued doing whatever stupidity they were doing back then that many people do when they're teenagers and experimenting the world. Baruch Hashem, I never experimented with any of that nonsense. I always liked my brain. But I get it. People do it. People make mistakes. But they stayed with that mistake. They stayed with that mistake. They stayed smoking marijuana and taking pills. All the filth stayed with them, and they literally just became the same losers that the kids laugh at when they see them at the nightclubs because all the kids are like 16, 18, 19 years old, and there's like a group of losers that look like the grandparents that maybe they own the club, and they're like 60 or 50. They became those guys. That's how it works.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu says, "My treasure chest is available to you with all of the blessings in the world. The best wife, the best husband, the best kids, the best parnassah, the best of everything is available to you. Not just in Heaven. The best here is even available to you. But the worst is too. You choose. You choose."

The Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin. The very same tzaddik we learned about last week, where he's the one that also wrote about the seven layers of the klipah, the same thing like Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk, almost word for word the word for each other. The Chozeh of Lublin was so extreme in his avodat Hashem (service of G'd) and his servitude of Hashem that he took some fabric and covered his eyes and did not uncover his eyes for seven years. Did not uncover his eyes for seven years. Only learning Torah. Only listening to the Torah. Nothing else. After he finally uncovered his eyes, there was permanent damage that would not allow him to see anything around him, but when he would look into the Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll), he could see from one end of the world to the other end of the world. And people would come to him from all over the world to ask him for where were missing people, and he would draw them pictures exactly of where these people are, what place, what's the address. It didn't matter where it was in the world. Literally, he protected to such an extreme his eyes, these windows to the soul, to only allow kedusha (holiness) in there, that he literally sanctified himself, that he was able to get the hidden light, the Ohr HaGanuz (Hidden Light), that he was able to look into the Torah and see anything he wanted.

Now, again, none of this is expected from us. None of this is anything we should even try to do, but what Rabbi Elimelech is telling us here is not to hide our eyes and not enjoy, rather restrict, restrict your field of vision, that it should not look beyond your immediate perimeter, even when you're at home, and all the more so when you're in a synagogue, in a study hall, or walking outside. Simply restrict yourself. Don't be a dog that just goes wherever he wants to go. Be an eved Hashem (servant of G'd). Be a servant of Hashem. And this applies both to men and women. Many women, for whatever reason or another, think that they don't need to protect their eyes. They can look at whatever they want. There's nothing further from the truth. Who told you you're allowed to look at other men or men that are half naked and all this other stuff that people think it's okay to look at? There's no permission.

Of course, a woman doesn't get the same type of desires as men do, and so on, yes. And if there's something that, for example, you need to investigate, for example, if there's a certain movie or book or whatever it is that you want to investigate before you give it to the kids to see what it says, sometimes it's better that the wife will look at it. If there's suspicion, you're not sure if there's going to be something immodest or not, it's better that the woman looks at it because she's not affected and impacted by what she sees as much as the man is. But this is not a free-for-all for her to start watching movies and things like that. Women that watch movies, that watch shows, that simply act religious by celebrating Shabbat and the candles and the challah and everything else but still put themselves in the secular world with the television and the shows and all that, the fashion and all that stuff, that's a house full of problems. Why? Because the woman is going to hate her life because she's constantly going to be comparing her life to something that's forbidden to her.

And that's what the Tzetil Katan is trying to warn us from. You have all of the treasures in the world available to you. All you have to do is simply follow instructions. Lastly, there is another thing that causes a person…it's a trap by the Satan that causes a person to get too comfortable without realizing it and eventually bring that person to their own destruction, and that's laziness. Likutei Etzot (Collected Counsels) talks about this. It says that one way that a person can rid themselves of this laziness is by getting rid of their pride. Now, why pride? Why pride? What does pride have to do with it?

It says, "Arrogance leads to poverty because when a person is so humble that he's literally nothing, he can attain Torah and greatness at the same time, but otherwise, when he has the opposite, Torah and greatness cannot coexist with such a person." And when a person is arrogant, it's a sign that that person will end up having problems, and when you're seeing that things are not going well for you, you should realize that it's due to your own pride. Now, how does this all have anything to do with laziness? Because if a person is arrogant, they're going to treat the world as if time is theirs. They have all the time in the world to do whatever they want, and that's, in essence, arrogance in practice. It's ga'avah (pride) in practice. You don't respect your time. You don't respect other people's time. You wake up when you want. You go to sleep when you want. You go…show up to appointments late when you want, and the sense of alacrity, the sense of zrizut (alacrity), is lost on a person.

And when a person starts justifying laziness little by little, this is going to form a certain lifestyle. Laziness when it comes to life leads to laziness when it comes to mitzvot. And the Torah says, in Sefer Bamidbar (Book of Numbers), in chapter 33, verses 15 and 16, about Am Yisrael traveling from Rephidim, and then they camped in Sinai. Now, the… "And they traveled from Sinai, and then came to Kivrot HaTa'avah." And the Chachamim teach us the place of Rephidim was called Rephidim because Am Yisrael did not learn Torah over there. They were lazy. And as soon as they were lazy in their learning of Torah, Hashem sent them Amalek. Hashem sent them problems. Why? Because HaKadosh Baruch Hu says laziness is not an option because once a person is lazy, lazy to wake up, lazy to pray, lazy to do mitzvot, then what ends up happening is that that laziness, that again stems from arrogance...it all starts with arrogance, but that laziness eventually ends up being lazy with critical things. Not just doing the positive mitzvot, but also not subjecting yourself to negative ones. So you'll end up going to places, and then when you realize you're not allowed to be there, it's like, "Ah, come on, I'm already here," and end up making the sin. "Oh yeah, it's not kosher." "Oh, I already took a bite. I'm hungry."

So laziness is another way that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is telling us that Satan can use to fool us. This laziness is one of the tools that the evil inclination will lead you away from the good path by first making you lazy and then apathetic. And if you don't fight back by acting quickly and enthusiastically but rather slow to getting up in the morning to serve Hashem, you will eventually become lax in Torah study, which will lead to all sorts of forbidden desires, G-d forbid. And therefore, you must do everything possible to acquire the trait of zrizut, alacrity, and then you will run to study Torah, which will teach you how to avoid harmful desires and improper actions.

And that's why the Gemara in Massechet Arachin (Tractate of Arachin), on page 30a, says, "It's not the mouse that steals, but the hole that steals," meaning that it's important not to leave any empty spaces in the middle of your day, where a person should always know what they're doing next. Whether it's studying Torah, doing a mitzvah, working, whatever it is that you do. Constantly being active. Even if your activity is resting, that should still be on your schedule. Why? Because the Torah is telling us, "It's not the mouse that steals, but the hole that steals," meaning that it's not the evil inclination that makes you sin but rather the free time that led to your sin.

And this is what Rabbi Eliezer Shaul Zisman wrote…The Tzetil Katan is giving us all types of useful tools that every single person can actually apply. Not to the highest measure, like the Chozeh of Lublin, who tied these, you know, and hid his eyes for seven years. Not like the tzaddik that was able to fast for a week at a time. Not like Rabbi Elimelech, who burned his hand and literally made it into nothing. No, they did these things because they sanctified themselves well before to elevate themselves to get to such high levels, which are not available to us, but it's also not expected of us. But the tools they used are available to us at our levels. And in fact, some of them are such easy tools that they're expected of us because HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that when we use those tools, we're not only going to be protected from...from the curses, but rather we'll make ourselves a direct connection to receive the blessings through these windows to the soul. And blessings that are beyond our imagination, blessings beyond our ability to even handle. Blessings as if it's Gan Eden in this world.

Where, on the other hand, if we ignore it, and we're relaxed when it comes to the mitzvot and think that, "This is not a big deal, and that's not a big deal," and everything is not a big deal unless we like it, and we want it to be a big deal, then HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that, "Yes, maybe you…your attitude towards Shabbat is that it's a big deal, and your attitude towards idolatry is that it's a big deal, and your attitude towards, you know, immorality is that a big deal, but your attitude in business is not, and your attitude with respect to other people is not, and your attitude with charity and giving tzedakah is not, and you think that, 'Okay, I'm good at those, but it's okay I'm not so good at those...' " No. You have to work on everything.

And that's what this Rosh Hashanah is for. This Rosh Hashanah is an opportunity for each and every single one of us to start realizing that we have work to do. How do we know we have work to do? We're still alive. Hashem will not keep you in this world one second extra after you completed your tikkun (rectification), unless the world needs you. And let's not be so full of ourselves to think that the whole world needs us. We need to be here much more than the world needs us to be. We have a lot to fix.

So Be'ezrat Hashem, each and every one of us uses the tools that Tzetil Katan is giving us and try our best to apply one of them for this week, perhaps even two of them, at the very least some of them for the next day. You never know, you may end up doing it for two days or three days or four days and start seeing how your life is improving, and you're already seeing at least a sense of the blessings. And once you see that the blessing is real, you realize the rest of it is too, and you stop falling for the trap of the Satan that's convincing you to go with the curses.

Thank you very much for learning with me. Anyone that wants to support our organization can always donate on our regular website, but I highly recommend that everybody take a real serious account of their spiritual standing as well as their financial standing and donate generously at our new High Holiday campaign. I highly recommend that people stretch themselves out more than they typically do because this is a campaign that not only we need, but from what I know, everyone needs. And the people that have been receiving blessings year after year, over the last several years, that I've been telling you about, many of them, not all of them, many of them, at least a couple of dozen of them have decided to share with you some of the miracles they've gotten. And I promise you, you're probably going to cry when you read some of them because it's just unbelievable that these miracles are readily and easily available to Am Yisrael. And Baruch Hashem, HaKadosh Baruch Hu made us the messenger that is making it available. We're willing to sacrifice everything for Am Yisrael, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu is allowing His blessing to come through us. As long as we continue doing what we're supposed to be doing, HaKadosh Baruch Hu's blessing is going to be just like it's promised. It only gets bigger. And Be'ezrat Hashem, many, many more of you will benefit from that blessing as well.

Thank you very much for learning with me, and Be'ezrat Hashem, we'll learn again later this week. Kol Tuv, doing well and preparing for the big holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

If you've learned Torah with us over the past decade, you've also learned that we hate lies, empty promises, and any statement without a source. So this year, we asked dozens of our donors to tell you themselves what they have received as a result of partnering with us and having us pray for them during this time of the year. In the conclusion, you'll see our donors received miracles: cured from cancer, having a child after 10 years of marriage without kids, financial success and protection in impossible situations, finding a zivug (soulmate), special siyata d'Shmaya in Torah learning, and countless other miracles that you could read and watch these special neshamot (souls) tell you themselves.

After a decade of nearly 14,000 shiurim, feeding hundreds of thousands of poor Jews, widows, and orphans in Eretz Yisrael, distributing nearly a quarter-million books and 2 million USBs, CDs, and posters for free, setting up multiple kolos (bride schools), Hashem has decided to continuously accept our prayers and blessings to help our donors get miracles. And this Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we want even more of you to get your personalized blessings and miracles. By donating generously and becoming our partner, you'll have the opportunity to help us feed 10,000 poor Jews this holiday, be a partner in nearly 1,000 avreichim (married Torah scholars) learning the entire Shas in a single day, and even get a special blessing with your name in one of our new books coming out this year. Rabotai, our donors receive unbelievable miracles. Join us by donating and getting others to donate, and Be'ezrat Hashem, you too will receive and be part of the next miracle story.

Glossary of Key Terms Explained in English

Am Yisrael

The Nation of Israel, referring to the Jewish people.

Emphasizes the collective responsibility and potential for greatness within the Jewish people. Rabbi Reuven stresses that following the Torah brings blessings not only to individuals but to the entire nation.

Avreichim

Married Torah scholars who dedicate their lives to studying and teaching Torah.

Highlights a group within the Jewish community known for their deep commitment to Torah study. Rabbi Reuven mentions them in the context of a fundraising campaign, inviting support for their efforts to study the entire Talmud in a single day.

Bagatz

The Israeli Supreme Court.

Rabbi Reuven uses it as an example of an institution that, in his view, consistently undermines and acts against Torah law.

Baruch Hashem

Blessed is G'd, a common Hebrew expression of gratitude and acknowledgment of G'd's presence.

Appears frequently throughout Rabbi Reuven's lecture, reflecting a deep-seated belief in G'd's active role in everyday life.

Be'ezrat Hashem

With G'd's help, expressing reliance on divine assistance.

Conveys the idea that success in any endeavor ultimately depends on G'd's will and blessings.

Beit Din

Jewish court of law, responsible for adjudicating religious matters and disputes.

Emphasizes the importance of Torah law and its application in Jewish life. Rabbi Reuven criticizes rulings that he sees as deviating from authentic Torah interpretation.

Beit Midrash

House of study, a place dedicated to Torah learning.

Represents a space for spiritual growth and connection to Jewish tradition. Rabbi Reuven mentions it as one of the places where one should be particularly mindful of maintaining a restricted field of vision and avoiding distractions.

Birkat Hamazon

Grace After Meals, a series of blessings recited after consuming bread or other staple foods.

Underscores the Jewish concept of sanctifying even mundane activities like eating. Rabbi Reuven points to the idea that food can be elevated through proper intention and blessings.

Brit

Covenant, referring to the eternal bond between G'd and the Jewish people.

Emphasizes the sacred relationship between G'd and the Jewish people, highlighting the importance of upholding the Torah's commandments as part of this covenant. Rabbi Reuven links protecting one's eyes to safeguarding this covenant.

Chachamim

Wise men, referring to the Sages of the Talmud and later rabbinic authorities.

Acknowledges the wisdom and authority of Jewish tradition, passed down through generations of scholars. Rabbi Reuven often cites their teachings to support and elaborate on points made in the lecture.

Chassid

Follower of Chasidic Judaism, a mystical movement within Judaism.

Identifies a specific Jewish group known for their emphasis on spiritual experience and joy in serving G'd.

Chassidut

Chasidic philosophy or teachings.

References the mystical teachings of Chasidic Judaism, known for their insights into the inner dimensions of Torah and spirituality.

Chalav

Milk, specifically referring to the kosher parts of a cow's udders.

Used in an analogy explaining how for every forbidden pleasure, the Torah provides a permissible alternative with a similar flavor or satisfaction. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes that G'd's commandments are not meant to deprive people but to guide them towards a fulfilling and meaningful life.

Chozeh

Seer, a title given to individuals believed to possess prophetic abilities.

Rabbi Reuven uses this term to refer to the Chozeh of Lublin, a revered Chasidic Rabbi known for his piety and spiritual insights. The Chozeh's story serves as an extreme example of safeguarding one's eyes from distractions and focusing solely on holiness.

Cholent

Traditional Jewish stew, slow-cooked overnight and typically eaten on Shabbat.

Used in a story illustrating the ability of a holy individual to consume vast quantities of food due to their spiritual elevation. The story emphasizes the idea that dedication to Torah and holiness can lead to extraordinary experiences that defy conventional understanding.

Eretz Yisrael

The Land of Israel.

Holds deep religious and historical significance for the Jewish people. Rabbi Reuven mentions it in the context of charitable work, emphasizing the importance of supporting those in need, particularly within the land of Israel.

Eruv

A symbolic enclosure constructed in Jewish communities to allow carrying on Shabbat.

Not mentioned explicitly in the provided text, but relevant to understanding the concept of permissible boundaries and restrictions within Jewish law.

Eved Hashem

Servant of G'd, a term used to describe a person dedicated to serving G'd.

Highlights the ideal relationship between a person and G'd, emphasizing humility and submission to divine will.

Ga'avah

Pride, considered a negative character trait in Jewish tradition.

Represents a stumbling block to spiritual growth, as it fosters an inflated sense of self-importance and disregard for others. Rabbi Reuven links arrogance to laziness, suggesting that a prideful attitude leads to a lack of urgency and enthusiasm in serving G'd.

Gan Eden

Garden of Eden, the biblical paradise.

Represents a state of ultimate bliss and closeness to G'd. Rabbi Reuven uses it to describe the immense blessings that await those who follow the Torah, suggesting that even in this world, one can experience a taste of paradise through dedication to G'd's commandments.

Gehenna

Hell, the realm of spiritual punishment.

Represents the consequences of choosing a life opposed to G'd and the Torah. Rabbi Reuven uses it as a stark reminder of the potential for spiritual downfall if one ignores the warnings and chooses to pursue a path of selfishness and sin.

Gemara

The core text of the Talmud, containing rabbinic discussions and interpretations of the Mishnah.

Holds significant authority in Jewish law and thought. Rabbi Reuven frequently cites the Gemara to provide support and context for his teachings.

Gid Hanasheh

Sciatic nerve, forbidden to be eaten by Jews.

Used as part of a dietary example when discussing the concept of chalav, illustrating how certain parts of an animal are permitted while others are forbidden.

Goyim

Non-Jews.

Used in a neutral, descriptive sense when differentiating between Jewish and non-Jewish practices and beliefs.

Habibi

My dear, a term of endearment often used in addressing a loved one.

Used by Rabbi Reuven to address his listeners in a familiar and affectionate tone, emphasizing the personal relevance of his message.

HaKadosh Baruch Hu

The Holy One, Blessed be He, a Hebrew name for G'd.

Used throughout the lecture to emphasize G'd's holiness, omnipotence, and active role in the world.

Halacha

Jewish law, encompassing all aspects of religious observance.

Not mentioned explicitly in the provided text but forms the foundation of Rabbi Reuven's teachings.

Hashem

The Name, a common Hebrew substitute for the divine name, considered too holy to be pronounced.

Used interchangeably with "HaKadosh Baruch Hu" as a respectful way of referring to G'd.

Iggeret Hakodesh

Holy Letter, typically referring to a letter written by a revered Rabbi.

In this context, it likely refers to a letter written by the Ramban (Nachmanides) on the topic of marital intimacy, highlighting the sanctity of physical relations within the context of a marriage.

Ish Kodesh

Holy man, a term used to describe a person of exceptional piety and spiritual stature.

Emphasizes the individual's dedication to G'd and Torah.

Kedusha

Holiness, a state of spiritual purity and connection to G'd.

Central to Rabbi Reuven's message. He stresses that by following the Torah and protecting their "windows to the soul," individuals can increase holiness in their lives and access G'd's blessings.

Kehila

Community, referring to a Jewish congregation or a group of Jews.

Underscores the importance of community in Jewish life and the collective responsibility to uphold Torah values and support one another.

Kiddush

Sanctification, a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to mark the beginning of Shabbat and holidays.

Highlights the Jewish practice of sanctifying time, distinguishing between the sacred and the mundane.

Kiruv

Jewish outreach, efforts to connect Jews with their heritage and tradition.

Relevant to the work of Rabbi Reuven's organization, which aims to make Torah accessible and inspire Jews to connect with their roots.

Klipah

Shell, a Kabbalistic concept referring to spiritual impurities that obscure holiness.

Represents forces that oppose holiness and hinder spiritual growth. Rabbi Reuven mentions the "seven layers of the klipah," drawing on Kabbalistic teachings to illustrate the challenges and obstacles on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

Kohen

Priest, a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses, with specific religious duties.

Used in a story about a complex conversion case, highlighting the intricacies of Jewish law and the importance of seeking guidance from knowledgeable and trustworthy rabbinic authorities.

Kolos

Bride schools, institutions that provide Jewish women with guidance and education on marriage and family life.

Reflect the value placed on marriage and family within Jewish tradition. Rabbi Reuven mentions them in the context of his organization's work, highlighting the importance of supporting these institutions.

Lachash

A statement spoken with deep understanding and intention.

Represents a powerful tool for spiritual transformation. Rabbi Reuven explains that the lachash provided in the Tzetil Katan can help overcome negative thoughts and desires.

Likutei Etzot

Collected Counsels, a collection of ethical and spiritual teachings.

Cited by Rabbi Reuven to support his point that humility is essential for overcoming laziness and attaining Torah wisdom.

Malach

Angel, a spiritual being that serves as a messenger of G'd.

Can refer to both benevolent and malevolent entities. Rabbi Reuven uses it in different contexts: describing a holy man who consumed vast quantities of food due to his spiritual elevation and when discussing the "malach of Edom," which represents negative forces that oppose the Jewish people.

Mashiach

Messiah, the anticipated redeemer who will usher in an era of peace and spiritual enlightenment.

Represents a central belief in Jewish tradition. Rabbi Reuven mentions the idea that the Messiah's arrival is dependent on the Jewish people's return to Torah observance and the eradication of corruption and injustice.

Massechet

Tractate, a division within the Mishnah and Gemara.

Used to specify which section of the Talmud a particular teaching comes from. For example, "Massechet Shabbat" refers to the tractate dealing with the laws of Shabbat.

Mekubal

Practitioner of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism.

Indicates expertise in esoteric Jewish teachings. Rabbi Reuven uses it to describe individuals known for their deep knowledge of Kabbalah and their ability to access spiritual realms.

Mesirut Nefesh

Self-sacrifice, willingness to give up one's life or endure hardship for a higher cause.

Highlights the importance of dedication and sacrifice in serving G'd and the Jewish people.

Mitzvah

Commandment; a positive deed commanded by G'd.

Central to Jewish life. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes the importance of fulfilling mitzvot to access G'd's blessings. He highlights specific mitzvot, such as building a sukkah, fasting on Yom Kippur, and keeping Shabbat, as examples of actions that bring about spiritual and material abundance.

Moshe Rabbeinu

Moses our Teacher, a title of reverence for Moses, the central prophet in Judaism.

Emphasizes Moses' role as the greatest prophet and lawgiver in Jewish history.

Neshama

Soul, the spiritual essence of a person.

Underscores the importance of spiritual development alongside physical well-being. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes that protecting one's eyes protects one's soul.

Ohr HaGanuz

Hidden Light, a Kabbalistic concept referring to a primordial light concealed within creation.

Represents a source of profound spiritual illumination and wisdom. Rabbi Reuven uses it to describe the level of insight attained by the Chozeh of Lublin through his extreme dedication to protecting his eyes from distractions.

Parashat

Torah portion, a weekly section of the Torah read in synagogues.

Used to specify the particular portion of the Torah being discussed. For example, "Parashat Ki Tavo" refers to the Torah portion named "Ki Tavo."

Parnassah

Livelihood, referring to one's source of income and material sustenance.

Represents an essential aspect of life. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes that following the Torah brings blessings in the realm of parnassah, ensuring material abundance and financial stability.

P'sak

Rabbinic ruling, a decision made by a competent rabbinic authority.

Highlights the role of rabbinic leadership in interpreting and applying Jewish law. Rabbi Reuven stresses the importance of seeking guidance from knowledgeable and trustworthy rabbis.

Rabbanit

Rabbi's wife, a title of respect for the wife of a rabbi.

Acknowledges the important role that women play in Jewish leadership and community.

Rabotai

My friends, a term of endearment used in addressing a group.

Used by Rabbi Reuven to create a sense of connection and shared purpose with his listeners.

Ramban

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Nachmanides), a prominent medieval Jewish scholar and philosopher.

Acknowledges the Ramban's authority in Jewish thought. Rabbi Reuven cites his commentary on the Torah to support his interpretation of specific verses.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, a renowned medieval Jewish commentator on the Torah and Talmud.

Known for his clear and concise explanations of complex Jewish texts. Rabbi Reuven recommends reading Rashi's commentary to gain a deeper understanding of the Torah portion.

Rav

Rabbi, a Jewish religious leader and teacher.

A title of respect for a person learned in Jewish law and tradition. Rabbi Reuven uses it when referring to various rabbis and their teachings.

Rebbe

Teacher, often used as a title of respect for a Chasidic leader.

Emphasizes the revered status of Chasidic leaders within their communities.

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish New Year, a time for reflection, repentance, and setting intentions for the coming year.

Holds great significance in Jewish tradition. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes the opportunity for spiritual renewal and growth associated with this holiday.

Sefer

Book, often used to refer to a sacred Jewish text.

Used when mentioning specific Jewish books, such as the Torah, Talmud, or works by individual rabbis.

Sefer Torah

Torah scroll, a handwritten parchment scroll containing the Five Books of Moses.

Represents the holiest object in Judaism. Rabbi Reuven tells the story of the Chozeh of Lublin, who, despite losing his physical sight, could see into the Sefer Torah and access profound spiritual knowledge.

Seraf

Fiery angel, a type of angel associated with intense holiness and purity.

Used metaphorically to describe the spiritual state of a holy man who, through his piety, transcended the limitations of the physical world.

Shabbat

Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, observed by Jews as a day of rest and spiritual reflection.

Holds immense significance in Judaism. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes the importance of observing Shabbat properly as a way to connect with G'd and access spiritual blessings.

Shalom

Peace, a common Hebrew greeting and farewell.

Conveys a sense of wholeness, well-being, and harmony.

Shamayim

Heaven, the spiritual realm where G'd resides.

Represents a realm of ultimate spiritual fulfillment. Rabbi Reuven describes the blessings that await those who follow the Torah in both this world and the next.

Shas

An acronym for Shisha Sedarim, the Six Orders of the Mishnah, referring to the entire Talmud.

Represents the entirety of rabbinic tradition. Rabbi Reuven uses it as a marker of significant Torah scholarship, praising individuals who dedicate themselves to studying the entire Shas.

Shep

Abundance, plenty.

Used in conjunction with blessings, emphasizing the overflowing and limitless nature of G'd's bounty.

Shiur

Torah lesson or class.

Refers to a structured setting for Torah study, a common practice in Jewish communities.

Shul

Synagogue, a Jewish house of worship.

Represents a place of communal prayer and connection to G'd. Rabbi Reuven mentions it as one of the places where one should maintain a restricted field of vision and focus on prayer.

Siyata D'Shmaya

Help from Heaven, divine assistance.

Emphasizes G'd's constant presence and willingness to aid those who seek his help.

Sukkah

Temporary booth constructed and inhabited during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

A symbol of G'd's protection of the Israelites during their journey through the desert. Rabbi Reuven mentions building a sukkah as one of the mitzvot that brings about G'd's blessings.

Talmid

Student, typically referring to a student of Torah.

Highlights the importance of learning and mentorship within Jewish tradition.

Talmid Chacham

Torah scholar, a person learned in Jewish law and tradition.

Denotes a high level of scholarship and piety.

Teshuva

Repentance, a process of turning away from sin and returning to G'd.

Central to Jewish spiritual life. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes the importance of teshuva, particularly during the High Holiday season, as a way to achieve spiritual renewal and draw closer to G'd.

Tikkum

Rectification, the process of repairing spiritual flaws and fulfilling one's potential.

Highlights the Jewish belief that each person has a unique purpose in this world. Rabbi Reuven suggests that individuals continue to live in this world until they complete their tikkun.

Torah

The Five Books of Moses, considered the most sacred text in Judaism.

The foundation of Jewish law, belief, and practice. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes that following the Torah leads to countless blessings, while disregarding it brings about curses and spiritual downfall.

Tzaddik

Righteous individual, a person of exceptional piety and good deeds.

Conveys deep respect and admiration for individuals who embody the highest ideals of Jewish life. Rabbi Reuven often tells stories of tzaddikim to illustrate the power of faith, dedication to Torah, and the ability to access spiritual realms.

Tzedakah

Charity, acts of kindness and giving, considered a fundamental Jewish value.

Rabbi Reuven emphasizes the importance of tzedakah, particularly during the High Holidays, as a way to connect with G'd, help those in need, and draw blessings into one's life.

Yetzer Hara

Evil inclination, the innate human tendency towards selfishness and wrongdoing.

Represents a constant challenge to spiritual growth. Rabbi Reuven encourages his listeners to combat the Yetzer Hara by strengthening their connection to G'd and the Torah.

Yibum

Levirate marriage, a practice where a man marries his brother's widow if she is childless.

Used as an example to illustrate the idea that even for seemingly unusual or extreme desires, the Torah provides a permissible outlet.

Yirat Shamayim

Fear of Heaven, awe and reverence for G'd.

Considered the foundation of a meaningful and ethical life. Rabbi Reuven emphasizes the importance of cultivating Yirat Shamayim as a means of staying on the right path and avoiding transgression.

Yom Kippur

Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, marked by fasting and introspection.

A time for sincere repentance and seeking forgiveness for one's sins. Rabbi Reuven highlights the spiritual significance of Yom Kippur and its role in achieving atonement.

Zivug

Soulmate, one's divinely ordained life partner.

Reflects the Jewish belief that G'd creates each person with a destined partner. Rabbi Reuven mentions finding a zivug as one of the blessings that come from following the Torah.

Zrizut Alacrity, eagerness, and enthusiasm in serving G'd.

Presented as an antidote to laziness and apathy, crucial for staying on the path of Torah and avoiding temptation.

Addendum

IYH kindly donate for kiruv, kollelim and avrechim in E.Y. and spreading Torah beezrathashem.org

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