Behar: Shemitah, the Prohibition of Ribbis, and Emunah in Business

Transcript

Parshas Behar. The topic is a pasuk that Chavakuk said is the yesod, yesod hakol. Gemara in Makos tells us, Bo Chavakuk v'he'emidan al achas. In every generation, they try to focus on the amudim of the Torah. They're trying to condense it into a short, sweet message. Chavakuk came and shortened it to one message: Tzadik b'emunaso yichyeh. The tzadik, with his emunah, he lives. It doesn't mean that the tzadik lives with emunah, but the tzadik's life is because of his emunah. It doesn't mean that tzaddikim live with emunah. That's facts. Tzadik b'emunaso yichyeh is the yesod, that the tzadik lives, quote unquote lives, life. His life is based on emunah. Today, we shall discuss Tzadik b'emunaso yichyeh, and the reason is because Parshas Behar is the parsha of emunah. Why is Parshas Behar the parsha of emunah? Don't say that you're supposed to believe in Hashem in this parsha. Don't say it, right? It's not the Aseres HaDibros. So where in this parsha does it speak about emunah? And of course, the answer is Shemitah. The yesod of Shemitah is that a Jew, especially in Eretz Yisrael, lives with the knowledge, Ein od milvado, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is the government of Eretz Yisrael. He's the Melech. It's not Sharon, and it's not Rabin, and it's not Golda Meir, and whatever else list of people that you come up with. They're not the ba'alim, the leaders, the bosses. But our leader is the prime, supreme leader, HaKadosh Baruch Hu. And therefore, if HaKadosh Baruch Hu says that one year you don't work and you still get, you'll get. Shemitah is emunah. Now, I want you to understand that this is not something that I say. Everybody, it's a yedua that the yesod of Shemitah is emunah. I'm going to show you that it's not just the theme and the yesod of the parsha in the beginning, which talks about Shemitah, but straight through the parsha, it's about emunah. There's something unique. There's something eye-opening in the parsha, and that is that from Shemitah, we go into the halachos of gezeilah. Lo sonu ish es amiso, ish... Ki yamoch achicha, u'machar me'achuzaso, you have to give it back, right? But the arichaima, all this has to do with shemitah. But then all of a sudden it goes into, Al tonu ish es amiso. You're not allowed to steal. Al tonu ish es amiso. V'lo tonu, here it is, pasuk yud-zayin. Right after shemitah, we've discussed shemitah, then in pasuk yud-zayin, V'lo tonu ish es amiso v'yareisa meElokecha. Gezeilah! What does gezeilah have to do with shemitah? So the truth is, the pasuk itself tells me what gezeilah has to do with shemitah, because since, lefi rov ha'shanim tarbeh miknasei, u'lefi me'ot ha'shanim tamit miknasei, it has to be calculated according to the shemitah and the yovel, because by yovel it goes back. So therefore, if you sell a house, you have to sell it according to the years of shemitah. If you buy a house a year before yovel, it's not the same price as buying a house forty-five years before yovel.

If you buy it one year before Yovel, there's not much usage in it, so the price decreases, goes down. So therefore the pasuk continues, Lo tonu ish es amiso. So I understand where geneivah, gzeilah follows shemitah, right? Because shemitah is the calculation of knowing if something is a good sale, an honest sale, or a steal. Okay. Truthfully, I'm not 100% happy with this, because the lo tonu ish es amiso here is not referring to geneivah and gzeilah, but it's referring to onaas devarim. If you look at Rashi, Rashi quotes the Gemara Bava Metzia, daf nun hei amud beis, that when it says in the pasuk, Lo tonu ish es amiso, kan hizhar al onaas devarim. This lo tonu is actually not about gzeilah, but rather it's about onaas devarim, saying bad, hurtful, spiteful things to people, hurting them, right? We once spoke about this, why is it called lo tonu? Why is onaas devarim? Onaah, tonu means to steal. What am I stealing? If I hurt you, what am I stealing? So we spoke about this: I'm stealing your rights to be respected. Every human being, as a tzelem Elokim, has a right. Remember we had a whole shiur on this, and I was very happy with the conclusion that I, the understanding that we came to, that every human being has a right to be treated properly, to be spoken to with derech eretz. By taking that away, by abusing his right. It's a type of oinoah, loy tain, stealing, onaah. I stole from him his right, right? He deserves to be treated properly. I took that away from him. But if that's true that this is what the pasuk is referring to, if that's true, what does it have to do with shemitah? It has nothing to do with shemitah, l'choira. So the truth is, we can start working a little bit and say, you know, we spoke in other shiurim, different shiurim, that the whole idea of speaking bad about a person is undermining his tzelem Elokim. Meaning, if I have emunah in Hashem and I realize that Hashem is the ultimate, so therefore His creations, His briah, are also ultimate. So therefore it has to do with believing, living with the understanding that Hashem is ultimate, u'meileh, loy tainu eshes hamisah. For example, the Gemara even says, based on the pasuk, when a person hangs after he's committed a sin and he's executed, loy salin nivlaso al ha'etz. Why? Ki killel Elokim talui. The respect of man is actually the respect of what? Of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Ki killel Elokim. It's Hashem's creation, Hashem's tzelem Elokim. So we could come and say that emunah, part of emunah on believing Hashem is to loy sa'asu eshas hamisah. It's a little bit pushing it, pushing it, but let us continue. Notice the next parsha after that. You have batei, the batim, okay? Then it says in perek chaf-hei, Ki yamuch achicha, machuzaso. So again, also, shnei mimkaroi, v'chisha v'shnei mimkaroi. So therefore it has to do with shemitah, because the way you buy back a house is depending on the years that it was sold for and how much price. So again it has to do with shemitah. Then, v'ish ki yimkor beis moshav, again, v'haysa ge'ulaso ad tom shnas mimkaro, again it has to do with houses, shemitah sales. But then it talks about ribbis. Perek chaf-hei, pasuk lamed-hei: V'chi yamuch achicha, mata yado, v'hechezakta bo. You should help him. Al tikach me'ito neshech v'sarbis. You're not allowed to take ribit, ribit. Interest. You should take interest in him, but you shouldn't take interest from him, okay? Al tikach me'ito neshech v'sarbis, v'yareisa me'Elokecha. Okay, ribbis.

Now, l'choira, l'choira, how did this parsha of ribbis come over here in the parsha of Shemitah, sales of houses? I mean, ribbis is about loans of money. It has nothing to do with houses and sales. So how did neshech v'tarbis come here? Now, you want to talk about dinei mamonos, loans, all the halachos of loans, that's Parshas Mishpatim. In Parshas Mishpatim, in Kesef, Talveh es ami, is all about malveh v'loveh. So why is neshech v'tarbis here and not in Parshas Mishpatim, where it talks about halva'ot? Now you could come and say that it has to do with lo tonu, right? Not supposed to deal dishonestly. So continuation with that is neshech v'tarbis. It's also wheeling and dealing, dishonest dealings. I don't like it that much. I don't think that's the pshat. And I do want to point out to you that it's not my ha'arah why is neshech v'tarbis in this parsha. You know who asked this question? None other than Chazal themselves. Chazal in the Medrash asks, Why is neshech v'tarbis doing here next to Shemitah? Ma inyan neshech v'tarbis etzel Shemitah? And the Chazal answer that if you don't keep Shemitah, the end is you're going to lend, actually borrow money with ribbis. So you see that Chazal connected Shemitah to ribbis because what was bothering them is it doesn't really belong here, ribbis. It's a sore thumb in the parsha. It stands out. It doesn't really belong here. So this is what we're going to have to deal: to understand the connection between shemitah and ribbis. And why am I saying? Because even after the answer of the Chazal that if a person doesn't keep shemitah, he'll borrow money with ribbis, how does it meet the connection? How does it meet the connection? So the fact that neshech v'tarbis is connected to shemitah is the yesod of this week's shiur, because you see Chazal already connected. Okay? So all this was an introduction. I'm going to repeat it because we said a lot of things, and I want to make sure you understand clearly what I want. You know, there's a whole mahalach by many mefarshim, by many people who say Torah Chumash to connect the parshiyos. Matter of fact, when I was in Camp Agudah, Reb Belsky's Chumash shiur on Shabbos was that. He would connect all the parshiyos, and he would do it in a brilliant way with a lot of bekius. So we see that there is a connection from one parsha to the other. We also find Chazal were dorshim סמוכים, that Chazal would doresh when one parsha is next to another. There's a reason for it. Here, we must say that there's more of a reason to explain the connection, because Chazal themselves... Pointed out the connection and said that there's a connection. They said that neshech, ribbis doesn't belong in this parsha, and the fact that it's here, it's because it's connected to shemitah. So we have to understand that connection, okay? A lot of my Chumash shiur is not only just to give you a nice pshat in Chumash; it's to teach you how to learn Chumash. See, I want you to understand that Chumash has a way of being taught and learned. There's a mahalach, just like there's a mahalach in the Gemara, just like there's a mahalach in the Rishonim on how to learn them. So I'm telling you, there is a mahalach to understand why one parsha is written and connected to another parsha, even though ein מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה. Even though theoretically the parshiyos seem to be not consistent because there's no seder, but the truth is, ein מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה is gufa the reason why we have to understand the connection from one parsha to the other. Think about it. Ein מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, which means that the Torah doesn't go in a specific order.

Based on the order of events, that leads us to understand. So then it was a different reason why one parsha follows or one parsha precedes. Normally you would say that this is how it was given, or this is how it happened. But if it's ein מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, if there is no order, quote unquote, in the Torah, so it's not just random, though. So there has to be an explanation to the order, more than sequence of events. Ein מוקדם ומאוחר means there's no sequence, but there's definitely order. It's not hefker. When we talk, we just ramble. When politicians talk, they just ramble. When the Torah talks, sentences follow, paragraphs follow. So then it has to be an explanation where unassuming paragraphs, which don't seem to have any connection, are said one after another, that they must be connected. And that's what Chazal are teaching us. Neshech in this parsha? Ribbis in Behar? What is that? They're not bothered why lo ta'nu is not in this parsha, because stealing money, okay, has to do with which mitzvah? Ribbis, l'choira, has to do with loans. It belonged where? In which parsha? Parshas Mishpatim, in loans. And I'm going to show you. I'm going to cheat a little bit. I'm going to be ein מוקדם ומאוחר בשיעור. Something that I wanted to say later on, which we'll discuss also later on, I'm going to show you. That not only is the Torah giving this order for ribbis, there's the machlokes the Rambam and Shulchan Aruch as well in what I'm talking about. Explain to you what I mean. Where is Hilchos Ribbis in the Rambam? There is in the Rambam. Malveh v'Loveh. In Hilchos Malveh v'Loveh, starting from perek gimmel and on, it's about ribbis. In Shulchan Aruch, where is Hilchos Ribbis? It's in Yoreh Deah. Interesting, huh? We're going to discuss this. Now, the truth is, it's not my ha'arah. The Bach in Shulchan Aruch already starts to talk about this. He's the first one to discuss it, and he's medayek in a Tur that the Tur himself, when he starts talking about Hilchos Ribbis, he's magdim why he talks about it where he talks about it, in Yoreh Deah. That we'll talk later. But you see clearly from the beginning, from the onset, as they say in English, Rambam viewed ribbis as Malveh v'Loveh, mishpatim. And the Shulchan Aruch viewed it like in Hilchos Shemitah, issurim, issa v'heter. Okay, hear what we're talking? Let's talk now. Okay, let's talk. What's the connection? Can you make me ten more coffees? Make two more. Come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. I'm exhausted. I'm tired already. Huh? That's why I'm warm? Maybe I'm getting hot flashes. It's the shiur that's giving me the hot flashes. It's nothing to do with the coffee. I said a shiur yesterday in Lakewood, yeah. And in the middle of the shiur, I turned around, I hit the guy next to me like I do with this, and I saw everybody's like... I realized that I'm here so many years that I forgot how to give a shiur in the, you know, outside world. I forgot I'm not in El Simcha, you know? I'm saying, I'm here, you know, I... I get around, the guy next to me beat him up. I have to see the way he was looking. I realized, like, okay. The connection between shemitah and ribbis. Shemitah and ribbis. Moshe, in his sefer Derech Moshe, has a very nice question. How could Chazal tell us that if you don't keep shemitah, eventually you'll be lending money with ribbis?

Since when is the onesh of one aveirah to do another one? How can we tell you you'll get the punishment that you'll have to lend money with ribbis? It says, lov, you'll be loveh money with ribbis. Sof yavo lilvot b'ribbis. So the question is, you can't punish a person that he'll do an aveirah because he did an aveirah. So R' Moshe answers, you don't understand, chas v'shalom, because the truth is, let's say you did an aveirah, you didn't keep shemitah, and let's say your punishment is that you'll lend money with ribbis. Ribbis is not only for the lender, it's also for the—I'm sorry, it's not only for the borrower, excuse me, it's for the lender too. So why would the lender have the aveirah? Why would the lender have to come on to lend with ribbis? Let's say you did an aveirah, you didn't keep shemitah, you're going to borrow money with ribbis, but the lender didn't. So the truth is, shema yafa? All right, I don't like it. I'll tell you why. Because the Gemara says the same by shogeg and meizid. The Gemara says, shogeg, yeah, meizid. How does the meizid who killed somebody b'meizid, he got away with it? What happens? HaKadosh Baruch Hu goes and has someone kill him, fall off the ladder and he'll end up dying, okay? Yeah, but what about the guy who fell off the ladder? Why is he involved? Because he also, b'shogeg, killed somebody before and he got away with it. HaKadosh Baruch Hu is mazmin the two to come together. Chovah l'chayav. So maybe... Just like the loiva, the one who borrows with the ribbis has a history of shemitah, maybe the one who lends at ribbis has a different history of what he did wrong. I mean, what's your kasha here? The reason why I'm lending with ribbis is only because you did the aveirah of shemitah. Who said? Maybe you have some other skeletons in your background. Maybe you have other skeletons, other issurim, and therefore you'll come eventually to lend money with ribbis. But R' Moshe says it's a kasha. R' Moshe says I'll answer both kashas with one teretz. The first question is why, if you do an aveirah, does the punishment become that you borrow money with ribbis? And second of all, says R' Moshe, why is the other guy, the other guy, why is he lending money, doing an issur because I didn't keep shemitah? Says R' Moshe, avada the answer is he taka won't. That's what Chazal are saying. Chazal are saying you're going to have to come on to borrow money with ribbis because no one's going to want to lend you money. And then when you're going to say, I want to do it with ribbis, they'll say, What? Ribbis is an aveirah. A yid's not going to lend you the money. So you'll end up with no money. That's what Chazal are saying. It's not that you'll end up borrowing, l'maaseh borrowing ribbis. You'll end up wanting to— you'll come to borrow with ribbis. Yavo li... with ribbis. That's the whole point. No one's going to give it to you. So you'll end up being a poor person, and therefore you're going to say to yourself, Why is it that no one wants to lend me money? And the answer is, ribbis. Oh, I must have done something wrong, b'shemitah, and that's going to be me'orer you to remember. Okay. So learns the great gaon R' Moshe. I would like to say a pshat. And it's on one condition: if you get me fresh air. If you somehow make me fresh air, you'll get my pshat. Without fresh air, I'm gonna choke and I'm gonna go back to Lakewood, and that's all. Choke. You're not good. It's springtime. You're not good. Nothing will happen to you. It's spring. Stop being an alter kaker. What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you? It's spring. Aviv. Okay. You know what I would say, pshat, rabosai? The Kli Yakar explains the connection of the parshah of shemitah to ribbis as follows. The Kli Yakar says, What is shemitah? Emunah. I believe, I have faith, and if Hashem tells me not to plant, I trust Him. I trust Him. What do you mean? How are you gonna make your—

Money, especially if you're a farmer. And the answer is, Hashem yazor, right? When it comes to ribbis, you lend money. What are you trying to do? You're trying to make more money. This is a better deal, right? Hashem said, don't take ribbis. If you have total emunah in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so why do you have to go and make a better deal? Hashem will give you the deal that you need. Hashem gives you the money that you need. The fact that you have to be a chacham, a businessman, you know, a real good businessman, make more money off your money, invest and ribbit, you'll get what you need. And Hashem said, don't take ribbis. You'll be just as good a businessman the same as the one that does take the ribbis. It's a chisaron emunah. Taking ribbis, borrowing with ribbis, for ribbis, is another way of outsmarting Hashem's plan of how much money you're supposed to get. You think, you have money, belongs to you. Yeah, but I can make more money off my money. If you're supposed to make that money, you'll make that. Says the Kli Yakar, it's a chisaron emunah, and that's the kesher, the kesher of the two parshiyos. Says the Kli Yakar, I believe that this is very meduyak in the parsha itself of ribbis. If you notice, it says, don't take ribbis, v'yareisa meElokecha. You should be afraid of Hashem. Why does it have to say v'yareisa meElokecha? Every time the Torah ends and emphasizes at the end of a mitzvah, Yireisam Elokecha, Chazal a doresh. Chazal explain why does it say that. And usually the reason is machshava. Whenever there's a machshava, whenever there's a thought involved in the issur, Hashem says, Yireisam Elokecha, because I know what you're really thinking. Now how does that apply by ribbis, which is an action? We'll also see. So Rashi says, so what's Yireisam Elokecha in an action? Says Rashi, Lefi sheda'ato shel adam nimsheches achar ribbis. Daas. You notice that Rashi says the da'ato shel... Why does Rashi stress the da'ato shel... ? Because like I explained to you, every Yireisam Elokecha goes to the daas, the thought of the person. It's supposed to pre-warn the thought of a person. Says Rashi, here there's also daas. What is it? Da'ato shel adam nimsheches, the mind is nimshach achar ribbis, v'kasheh lifrosh heימenu. See, pashut means it's very hard to withstand not taking ribbis. Yeah, but usually Yireisam Elokecha goes to the daas. That's why I believe emet la'amito, Rashi stresses, Lefi sheda'ato shel adam nimsheches achar ribbis, v'kasheh lifrosh heימenu, hu me'orer l'atzmo heter bishvil ma'osav. He's me'orer heter, and he thinks, again, Rashi, he thinks, ma'osav shehayu b'teilos. That's like, why should my money just sit idle? Hu tzarich... Yireisam Elokecha. Now, rabosai, I want you to know that I taught you emes pshat Rashi, and nobody would teach you this. Nobody. I know for sure nobody would tell you this pshat Rashi, but it's the real pshat Rashi. V'yareita melokecha always goes to the das. If you notice, Rashi didn't just say, Oh, a person wants it, so therefore we frighten you, v'yareita melokecha. Rashi could have just said a person really wants so much ribbis, it's so hard to stay away from ribbis. That's not what Rashi says. Rashi's going back on the das, the mind of a person. And he thinks to himself, Oh, thinking. Whenever there's a thinking issue, it says v'yareita melokecha. And then Rashi says, Oy, there's a different thinking problem by neshech, a different thought problem, and that is, Again, what he does is he's toleh it, it's for the goy. K'dei l'halvosam l'Yisrael b'ribbis, harei ze davar hamasur l'libo shel adam. Again, what he does is, he's—it's for the goy. K'dei l'halvosam l'Yisrael, which means he gives it, which is really the heter iska, by the way. It's a lot of— I mean, the concept of heter iska— okay, you know what, let me not say that because I'm complicating you. It's a way around, a way around ribbis. I say it belongs to the goy, the money belongs to the goy. So, harei ze davar hamasur l'libo shel adam, machshavto, right? So this is a— what's the problem? What's your problem? Heter iska? Don't worry about heter iska. Leave heter iska. I'm sorry, I just—

I was trying to bring out the loophole, the concept of loophole. There's a different type of a loophole, and the loophole is, yetolema oiso begai. Now, the truth is, you have to know what's wrong with it. Maybe takah. Rashi doesn't say that he actually gives it to the goy; yetolema oiso begai, which means he makes a little bit like, by the way, it's yours, you know, shtick, okay? So since it's davar hamasur l'libo shel adam machshavto, lkach hu tzrich loinevireitzam likecha, because v'yireitzam likecha is always about that, okay? Now, we saw in the Alshich that the Alshich says, you know why it says here v'yireitzam likecha? Because it's about emunah, emunah. Neshech v'tarbis, the shoresh of the chet is a lack of yiras Shamayim. It's interesting. You would say, neshech v'tarbis, where is the shoresh of the chet? You're hurting the other fellow. You're taking—he's in a bad situation. It's just like you're taking advantage of him. He has no money. He needs a loan, so you're taking extra money. Says the Alshich, no. The mekor, the shoresh, the root, is a chisaron in yiras Shamayim. What is the pshat that we just spoke from the Kli Yakar, I believe, that if you had the proper emunah, you had the proper belief in HaKadosh Baruch Hu, you wouldn't make cheshbonot to try to make a good deal on an innocent loan. It's an innocent loan. Guy needs money. You'll make your money. You'll make it more straightforward with integrity. You don't have to lend your money and then make money off lending your money. It's a mitzvah to lend money. Don't try to make a penny off doing a mitzvah to help another person. And the fact that you're trying to do it is a chisaron in v'yareta Elokecha. Now I'm going to tell you that it's actually a Chazal, and it's also based on the pasuk. If you notice that after ribbis, Hashem gives us a tremendous, tremendous expression of who He is: Ani Hashem. Ani Hashem Elokeichem asher hotzeisi eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim, la'ses lachem es eretz Canaan, lihyos lachem l'Elokim. Wow, that's a lot of titles, right? After what? Ribbis. So you could come and say that maybe it's going back on all the parshiyos, the previous parshiyos. Chazal say no. Chazal say it's going back only on ribbis. Pasuk lamed ches is a continuation of pasuk lamed vav and lamed zayin, not to take ribbis because Ani Hashem Elokeichem asher hotzeisi eschem me'eretz... That's a lot. So what's Ani Hashem? What's asher hotzeisichem me'eretz Mitzrayim? What's la'ses lachem es eretz Canaan? What is all this about? Says the Torahs Kohanim, Chazal, on this pasuk, Ani Hashem, ribbis is directly mekushar to Ani Hashem. Meaning, ha'mekabel alav ol ribbis is mekabel alav ol malchus Shamayim. Kol ha'me'einim she'eino mekabel, poirek, poirek. He throws off the ol of ribbis. His perek alah me'alav el shamayim, ani Hashem. You take ribbis, there's no ani Hashem. You watch the mitzvah of ribbis, then it's ani Hashem. What does it mean, oil ribbis? Interesting lashon, huh? Oil? Yoke of ribbis? Kol hamekabel ol oil ribbis. So you know what you could say, which I think the Imrei Emes says, not easy. It's a big oil. It's a big test. You know, everybody's making big money in stocks and investments and in ribbis, and you're standing there like a frum yid, chas v'shalom, I never take an extra penny. It's tremendous nisayon, yeah. So kol hamekabel ol oil ribbis. As a matter of fact, the Imrei Emes says in another place it's always referred to as mitzvas ribbis and not issur ribbis. Why? He says because you have to do it only because it's a mitzvah, because it's not understandable. I mean, why should I not want to make money? Why not? The whole world is into making money, and poof, me not? So hamekabel ol oil...

Hamekabel olav mitzvas, as he says, the Imrei Emes. You hear? I would say a little different. You know what I'm saying? Based on this Torah, the way we explained it, it's an ol malchus Shamayim. Ol ribbis is an ol that HaKadosh Baruch Hu. It's actually the yoke that there's a boss on top of me. When someone says, Who's your boss? What would you say? Charlie Feinstein. Charlie... what's your last name? Feinstein, okay. Charlie Boruchov. You wish that people would say that, that their boss is Charlie Boruchov. You always say that, okay. But then there's a boss that has very strict rules of business, strict rules of commerce. And he's a very, very, what's it called, demanding, demanding boss. He has rules, very strict rules. The boss is HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Hamekabel olav ol ribbis, a yoke of ribbis. There's an ol, and that's what it means, ani Hashem. That's what Chazal are telling us: Ani Hashem. Hamekabel olav ol ribbis. So the ol is not because it's hard. That's not what it means. Ol means what? Accepting the authority, the authority of ribbis. There's an authority. What's the authority of ribbis? HaKadosh Baruch Hu said not to take ribbis. Ribbis. Authority, authority. The authority of ribbis. You know what authority means? When someone is demanding it of me. Mekabel alav ol ribbis is mekabel alav ol malchus Shamayim. It's one and the same. The idea is, veyareisa meElokecha. The ribbis is about yiras Shamayim. And where is it connected to? It's connected to shemitah. Hashem is the boss. Who is my boss of my land? Hashem. Hashem said not to work, I don't work. Who's the boss of my money? The boss of my business? Hashem. Hashem says don't take ribbis. That's the connection of the har. The har is the boss. Emunah. Tzadik be'emunaso yichyeh. We live with emunah, and therefore He's the boss of my land and He's the boss of my commerce. And there's an oil. There's an authority that I have to accept in my land and in my business. Okay. Hamotzi eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim. So it's not ani Hashem. It's not just ani Hashem. It's ani Hashem hamotzi eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim, says Rashi, asher hotzeisi, vehivchanti bein bechor l'she'eino bechor, af ani yodea, venifra min hamalveh mo'os l'Yisrael b'ribbis. So the first pshat is the same thing that has to do with veyareisa meElokecha, that I know if you're telling the truth, if it's really your money or it's the guy's money. Davar acher, asher hotzeisi eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim, al menas shetikablu aleichem mitzvosai, afilu hein kevedos aleichem. Even though it's difficult, you have to be mekabel like the Imrei Emes. Ribbis is hard, right? So I took you out of Mitzrayim even though it's what? It's hard. Tell me, the only mitzvah in the Torah that's hard is ribbis? I don't know. There's other hard things. Every time there's a hard mitzvah it says, asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim. What's the pshat? What is Chazal? You want to know, there's a Gemara in Bava Metzia. The Gemara says, Im lo he'eleisi eschem. If I didn't take you out of Mitzrayim only for one thing, that you don't take ribbis, it was worth it. That's it? The whole ribbis, that's it? You know, there's something called a one-issue person. One issue. You know what that is? I'll tell you. I'll tell you a story. At a certain wedding I went to, I was an aide under the chuppah, together with a Chassidishe rav. They gave another Chassidishe rav to be an aide. Ed for the chuppah, with ed. Okay. The mesader kiddushin...

Was hagoyin Reb Eli Ber Machloi, ... turns to me and the Chassidisher rov, tells them to pick up the veil, look at the kallah, because you have to be the witness that she's the one. Yeah? So I have no problem. Sure. I looked, I don't know. The Chassidisher rov went crazy. Vus? Kicken? Well, you're not allowed to look at women. What are you talking about? He went crazy. He went crazy. What are you talking about? He says he refuses, under chupah, he refuses to look. I told him, look at it. He says, Sir, I'm the mesader kiddushin. You better look. He didn't want to. It was a few minutes. It went on for a few minutes, and then the guy gave in, and he looked. Okay. I guess he looked like, you know, with his eyes closed. All right, he looked. What happened? What happened was that after the chasan came over to me, and he started telling me that you're not allowed to look, and Chassidim, and you're looking, and Shulchan Aruch, and the litvisher, we're ruining the Shulchan Aruch. He went on and on and on. He's got to be talmid chacham, this Chassidisher. Okay. He was talking to the wrong guy, because I couldn't care less. It doesn't, you know, this is the custom, then that's the custom. Don't bother me. What do you want from my life? You can't come and say half the world is crazy, right? If half the world does it, so they do it. If you don't do it, so you don't do it. That's all. Chassidim don't do it, so they're also right. Eilu v'eilu divrei Elokim chayim, and that's all. What are you bothering me? Right? But I'm a bal derech eretz. I listened. It went on for quite a while. Okay. You think I heard this one time? I heard the same speech three times to three different chasides, two after this, okay? The only difference is, he was not an eid anymore for any more of the chasides, because he says he's not going to be an eid anymore by Ashken, a Lithuanian weddings. But after every wedding, he comes over to me with the same speech, you hear? Hayitachen, and then he said, and then he wrote a letter to Rabbi Yeber. Funny thing is, Rabbi Yeber—what do you think Rabbi Yeber did? Never answered him. He wrote him a letter, he never answered him. All right, so you should realize that that's the answer. The answer is they don't answer. All right. Kitzer, two times after, me and Rabbi Olbaum were sitting together by the table when he came over. Rabbi Olbaum shlifted from—Rabbi Olbaum turns around to me after the third time that we were together, and he says, Didn't he come over to me last time also with the same thing? He asked me, he said, I remember the last wedding. I told him, Yeah. By me it's not the second time, it's the third time. By you it's only the second time. By me it's the third time, you hear? And I hear it constantly because I daven in the same shul with him, so I get to hear it every Monday and Thursday. So Rabbi Olbaum says, You know, it's funny, there are certain people who are one-issue rabbanim, you know, just one thing, one agenda. This guy's agenda—every chasan he makes crazy, that every chasan he goes to that there's a litzishe wedding, ah, the kallah, and he's right. He has like this meshugas with the thing. I heard it from him so many times that I— and I'm looking at him, I can't hear you. What do you want from me? I don't know, so don't come away. All right. Why am I telling you this mashal? Because I wanted to bring it back to this parsha. Could you imagine, Ani Hashem, ribbis. Well, that's all, that the whole Torah is based on ribbis. The whole, Ani Hashem. And Rashi says because it's very hard. What's the only thing that's hard? I can find you other things that's hard too. What is the Torah, one issue, Rabbi? I mean, what? You hear? I mean, the Gemara says if I took you out of Mitzrayim just for ribbis, it's worth it. Rabosai, let me tell you what I think the pshat is. You know Mitzrayim, why Hashem took us out, what it was all about. So we just had Pesach. I'm sure you came to the understanding what it was all about. And the answer is, Hashem created the world. That we learned till Mitzrayim. But Hashem was manhig. Hashem has hashgacha pratis, the Klal Yisroel. That we learned in Mitzrayim. If you have the proper emunah and hashgacha pratis, you don't wheel and deal to try to make extra money through this. Ribbis is something very interesting. And you know what Rashi is trying to say? On one hand, it's so appetizing, because what am I doing? What, I deny Hashem by taking ribbis?

I really deny my money. Like Rashi says, why should my money sit idle? I mean, what am I doing? It's such a bad thing. Think about it. Tell me something, the whole world does it. Is it really so bad? We're going to discuss a little bit further in the shiur, but right now, at this juncture, let's just say Hashem understood in the depth of the heart where the cheshek and taavah to take ribbis comes from. Deep down, it's a lack of true trust in HaKadosh Baruch Hu. You know, it might be so normal and so accepted to take ribbis that we don't even realize the lack of bitachon in HaKadosh Baruch Hu that we have by taking ribbis. That's how deep. We have to search to find the chisaron. V'reitam l'kecha. That's what it means, v'reitam l'kecha. Hashem looks into the machshavah, deep into the mind of the person who runs after ribbis. Hashem says, you know what I find? You know what the conclusion is? Yesh chisaron bitachon. Again, we're thinking, but so, you're right. Think about it. It's not out in the open. It's not a kefirah, which is direct, Hashem, I don't believe in you. But it's there. And now I'm going to show you, rabosai, that it's not just Chazal, that the Rambam paskens this lahalachah, that when you take ribbis, you're a kofer. I say everybody's mind just woke up. It's a mefurasher Rambam, mefurash halacha. Okay, but before we get there, listen to what I'm teaching you. It has to do with Mitzrayim, because you know what Mitzrayim was supposed to instill, the yetziah, the leaving of Mitzrayim? Hashem is manhig. Hashem is my boss. Hashem gives me what I need. He took care of me when we left, when we were in the midbar. Were we lacking anything? We weren't lacking anything. Hashem takes care of me. Hashem ro'i lo echsar. If I try to take deals, to make a fast deal, a fast buck, I'll lend him the money and I'll make double. You're doing a mitzvah, you're helping another Jew. Why should you take money that Hashem gave you? And if you had extra enough to lend to another Jew to do a mitzvah, why try and make a buck off it? Deep down, you don't really believe Hashem gave you the money and the money was given to you to use for the proper things, and if you were supposed to get more money, you'll get more money. Yereta, machshava. That's what Rashi, the Alshich, that's what they're saying. It has to do with the machshava. It has to do with your outlook, why you're taking ribbis, and that's ani Hashem. Oil. There's an oil malchut shamayim, there's an acceptance of a boss on top when you don't take ribbis, and that's what it means, asher hotzeisicha, that I took you out of Mitzrayim. What about to give you Eretz Yisrael? What's about the next thing? Ani Hashem, we explained, because not taking ribbis is a declaration, ani Hashem. Ashoiteis Yadchem Eretz Mitzrayim is a emunah. What about lo saseis lachem es Eretz Canaan? What's that all about? Okay, let me tell you a pshat I thought about years ago, years, years ago, and I don't think I ever said it, but I remembered this pshat and I'd like to share it with you. I want to begin by teaching you a yesod, that if somebody takes ribbis, he does not stand up for techiyas hameisim. I didn't make that up. That's a Gemara. The Gemara in Bava Metzia, and as a matter of fact, Tosfos and the Targum Yerushalmi and Yechezkel both say Yechezkel was mechayeh meisim. The famous bringing back from the dead was Yechezkel. But some bnei durah, some people didn't get up. Yechezkel couldn't be mechayeh everyone. Why not? I want to look at the Gemara. Go ahead, good. Bava Metzia, daf ayin amud aleph. Ayin aleph amud aleph. Bava Metzia, it's in Eizehu Neshech, in the fifth chapter, ayin aleph amud aleph. Well, actually the Gemara is ayin amud beis and the Tosfos is on top, ayin aleph amud aleph, and four lines on top, Tosfos says the reason why Yechezkel couldn't...

Couldn't to be mechayeh them, yeah? Loi, loi. ... It starts in the bottom. It's like twelve lines up. Loi, okay? So the question is, why not? Was there something wrong with your cheskus power to be mechayeh meitim? Says Taisis, no. That's not what happened. You know what happened? These Bnei Dura were taking ribbis. And when you take ribbis, you don't wake up for techiyas hameisim. As a matter of fact, in the Chassidish literature, sefer Nachal Eisan says it's merumaz in the pasuk. When you look at ribbis, it says you're not supposed to take ribbis, v'chei achicha imach. Your brother will live with you. Says Nachal Eisan, it's a remez for olam haba, l'maaseh, techiyas hameisim. Chei! You'll live. You'll live together with you, because if you take ribbis, or if you give ribbis, the lender and the borrower, they're both not going to stand up for techiyas hameisim. So if you don't take, what is it going to be? Says Nachal Eisan, v'chei achicha imach. So you remember that, techiyas hameisim. So we're going to have to discuss why. Why is it that if a person takes ribbis, he doesn't stand up for techiyas hameisim? We have to discuss it. But let me tell you a little further. Says the Noidah B'Yehuda, chiddush nifla. Now, the Noidah B'Yehuda, you're not going to find in the teshuvos. Most people are not even going to know where it is, and even if I tell you where it is, you're not even going to know where to find it. The Noidah B'Yehuda wrote a sefer called Ahavas Tzion, the love of Zion, of Eretz Yisrael. There he discusses the inyanim... Why should we love Eretz Yisroel? Says the Noidah B'Yehuda, gevaldik, gevaldik pshat in this pasuk. Hashem says, Don't take ribbis because I gave you Eretz Yisroel. What's the connection? He says like this: Why is it important to have Eretz Yisroel? So I would have said, and to me until today, that the Noidah B'Yehuda doesn't say it, to do mitzvos, right? L'hatziv lechatziyonim, according to many shitos rishonim, the ikar kiyum haTorah is in Eretz Yisroel, lifnei Hashem. You know, Kayin was thrown out, va'yigaresh milifnei Hashem, right? Where was it? Kedem. Where is Kedem? You know where Kedem is? East. Says the Kuzari, it was Yerushalayim. Yerushalayim is Kedem, milifnei Hashem. Yerushalayim is called lifnei Hashem, ... lifnei Hashem, you hear? Va'yigaresh Kayin, he was thrown out milifnei Hashem from Yerushalayim, okay? So I would have said, lifnei Hashem. That's not what the Noidah B'Yehuda says. Says the Noidah B'Yehuda, because when you're buried in Eretz Yisroel, there is no tzaar gilgul mechilos, which means you get up by techiyas hameisim straight. But if you're buried in chutz la'aretz, you'll have to roll till you get to Eretz Yisroel to stand up. And if a person has neshich v'tarbis, you don't get up for techiyas hameisim. So the point of giving you Eretz Yisroel, which was that you should get up by techiyas hameisim straight, is only if you don't take ribbis. Because the whole thing is, if you don't take ribbis, you have techiyas hameisim. So los islachen, I came here just for a reason, says the Noidi Yehuda. I don't vanti. It comes out that the whole thing is a bessas. So today, you could live in America, take an El Al flight and be buried in Eretz Yisroel. Unless maybe that's not cool, people think, but you never know. If you live in America and then you're buried in Eretz Yisroel, maybe you don't have the maalah that you get up straight, I don't know. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Personally, you know, like they say by shemitah, you know they have a new thing by shemitah. You live in America, and for twenty dollars you buy—you buy keren shemitah. You buy a grape in Eretz Yisroel. You can't do mitzvah shemitah because they take terumos and maasros for you in shemitah. Why not? I'll tell you, it's very funny. I just want to say a little bit, and then I want to move on because I don't get into controversial topics, even though everybody's interested now all of a sudden. As soon as I say controversial topics, you know what I should—every before I should start off by saying, By the way, I want to say a controversial topic. So the Torah says—I'll just repeat all the stuff that—okay. I want you to know that Keren shemitah once in a shiur by Reb Belsky, and he ripped to pieces Keren shemitah, ripped it to pieces. He says, You think that a guy can live in America, go play golf and give twenty bucks, and because of that you get shemitah? What are you talking about?

Shmita is a farmer in Eretz Yisrael, and he has a land, and he's giving up. Sichashleimah. Then when the keren hashviis came to the newspapers that have the advertisements for it, I see the first person to sign up was Reb Elsky. So I look and I go, wait a minute, I was there. I heard it with my own ears. So I'll tell you what the pshat is. Mishtamea, b'di'eved, ichrei, l'maaseh, there's some something. It is something. What he meant to say was, don't think that that's what it's all about, that you sit in America and then ... by sending you twenty bucks there to Israel. That's a different conversation for a different time when we discuss shmita. Point B, point B. Could a person live in America and fly to Eretz Yisrael and say, I'm saying after his petirah, and be buried there? You see, you know they charge a big buck for someone who lives in America to get buried in Eretz Yisrael. I don't know. You got to think about it a little bit. What's the ma'alah of being buried in Eretz Yisrael? You have to talk about it. Or maybe with the amount of money that you're not going to pay, maybe you deserve to get up straight like the rest of the rest. They don't pay for it, you know, for them it's... But the amount of money that people put in to be buried in Eretz Yisrael, maybe they deserve it. They deserve it. All right, this is all conversation for a different topic, a different class, okay? To me, pilei plaim. It's pilei plaim that the Noideh B'Yehuda should tell me that getting up in Eretz Yisrael techiyas hameisim straight is the reason why Hashem gave us... Eretz Yisrael, and therefore if you don't take ribbis, which means you'll get up for techiyas hameisim, so then I give you Eretz Yisrael. And if not, so what's the point of having Eretz Yisrael? That's it. It's all about— no, because, no, because neshichah means if you take ribbis, you don't get up for techiyas hameisim. And Eretz Yisrael, the point is so you get up without gilgul mechilos. So the whole Eretz Yisrael is only if you don't take ribbis. If you take ribbis, what's the point of having Eretz Yisrael? Ava sin. Noideh b'Yehuda, gadol hador, posek hador. You can't argue on a Noideh b'Yehuda. Let me tell you what I said pshat in this Noideh b'Yehuda. Why taka, why taka, why taka if a person is koifer— I'm sorry, why taka if a person takes ribbis, he doesn't get up for techiyas hameisim? Let me tell you over. Think of how we explained ribbis, the lack of emunah, but let me show you a little further. I told you the Rambam. The Gemara says that if you call someone a rasha, it's a very serious offense: yored imoi l'chayav, which means you can go into his business and start saying, Listen, you have no right to call me a rasha, and I take you to court for it. Says the Gemara in Bava Metzia, daf ayin amud aleph— I'm sorry, ayin amud beis, the next page, ayin amud beis on top, ayin amud beis. Says the Gemara, take a look, take a look. You have it, lavler. He says a person who's malveh b'ribbis, you know what he's doing? He's calling himself a rasha. What? He brings edim, he brings a sofer, he brings... and he writes on himself, me, Ploni, who lent with ribbis, is a rasha. Unbelievable. Unbelievable, yeah? Could you imagine? The worst thing you could say to a guy, You're a rasha. Says the Gemara, that's what you're saying about yourself when you say that. You sign a contract that you're ready to give ribbis, you're a rasha, says the Gemara. Yeah? What? It's not there. Yeah, bavarei, yeah, I just said it. I said it. What did I say? You were right the first time. I was right the first time, okay. Adam, here it is. Amar Rabbi Yosi, bavarei, sam yosei neim shel malveh b'ribbis. Look how blind people who lend with ribbis. Adam kora l'chaveiro rasha, yored imo l'chayav. And here, mevi'im edim, witnesses, lavlah, a sofer, kulmas a pen, dyo ink, v'chosmin, chosmin. They write and they sign a piece of paper, Ploni zeh, this guy is koifer b'Elokei Yisrael. He's a heretic, kofer baKadosh Baruch Hu. Yeah? You're lending with ribbis. You're writing about yourself. You're being me'id on yourself that you're a koifer. Where did the Gemara get this from?

Ani Hashem. Ani Hashem Elokeichem is ribbis, yeah? The Rambam in Malveh v'Loveh, perek daled, halacha zayin, writes clearly that if you lend or borrow with ribbis, you are a kofer k'ilu. He uses the word k'ilu, but he says k'ilu. Rambam brings the halacha. Kafar b'Elokei Yisrael. The kafar, yeah? The kafar b'yetzias Mitzrayim. Where do you get that from? The second part of the pasuk: asher hotzeisi eschem me'eretz Mitzrayim. You hear? You want to see this inside? Raffi, send someone quickly. Malveh v'Loveh, perek daled, halacha zayin. You're a rasha, and you're a kofer, and you're a kofer b'yetzias Mitzrayim if you lend with ribbis. No? Unbelievable, no? Rasha. It says clearly in Tehillim, the pasuk in Tehillim. This is what it is. Rasha. Gemara. Rambam. Rasha, rasha. Unbelievable. Kofer b'Elokei Yisrael. Tell me, who doesn't get Olam Haba? Who doesn't get techiyas hameisim? Who? Kofer. The classic case of a person who doesn't get techiyas hameisim, perek daled, halacha zayin. Read it. Go ahead, read it, read it, read it. Whoever writes a shtar, k'ilu kotev alav — he's writing on himself a shtar. Rambam, not — sipurim. Rambam, halacha, yeah? That he's a kofer b'Hashem Elokei Yisrael, yeah? Continue. V'kafru b'yetzias Mitzrayim, v'kafru b'yetzias Mitzrayim, they're kofer b'yetzias Mitzrayim, which is this part of the pasuk: Ani Hashem asher hotzeisi eschem. It's a kefirah in Hashem, and not just Hashem. The ... with Hashem ... All right. Now let's discuss Eretz Yisrael. The Gemara tells us in Kesubos, Kol ha'dar b'Eretz Yisrael k'mi sheyesh lo Eloka. Living in Eretz Yisrael is living with Hashem. Then he has a G-d. He accepts Hashem. Kol she'eino dar b'Eretz Yisrael, ein lo Eloka. Hmm, now let's go back. You know the Noideh B'Yehuda is saying? The Noideh B'Yehuda is saying, Asher hotzeisicha me'eretz Mitzrayim, that I'm Hashem, la'seis lachem es Eretz Canaan. And that's why in Eretz Yisrael there's techiyas hameisim directly. That is why there's techiyas hameisim directly. Techiyas hameisim, neshach, is all connected to Ani Hashem. In Eretz Yisrael there's Ani Hashem, la'seis lachem es Eretz Canaan. The Noideh B'Yehuda is saying the whole purpose of living in Eretz Yisrael, so you shouldn't have pain when Moshiach comes. That's not the purpose. The purpose is Ani Hashem. Mi sheyesh lo Eloka. Techiyas hameisim is a symbol that there's life, that there's Ani Hashem. You know what creates techiyas hameisim? You know what death is? Let's start from scratch. You know what death is? Who knows what death is? Death is when Hashem leaves, the neshama, the chelek Eloka mima'al leaves. That's why there's tumas meis. Why is it tumas meis? The Rishonim tell us Hashem left. Whenever Hashem departs, there's tumah. Whenever Hashem departs something, the absence of Hashem makes tumah. What's techiyas hameisim? Ah, techiyas hameisim is gevaldik. Hashem comes back, the neshama comes back. Eretz Yisrael is the makom of techiyas hameisim. Chutz la'aretz, gilgul mechilos. Not that easy. That's what it means, gilgul mechilos. You'll get to Eretz Yisrael, but there's a tikkun and there's an avodah. It's not so pashut. That's what the Noideh B'Yehuda is saying, la'seis lachem es Eretz Canaan, and that's why it's תליא בריביס, because if there's ribbis, it's חסרון in the emunah, it's חסרון in an ani Hashem. Meila, you don't have אשר ציוויתיך, Eretz Mitzrayim, la'seis lachem es Eretz Canaan. With this, rabosai, I want to explain a moiridike nekudah. It comes out that our hanhaga, our behavior in business, portrays the true depth of our belief.

A person with emunah behaves one way. Even though it doesn't seem like it, I take ribbis like I explained to you. So I took ribbis, so what? You see in there, underlying in the hanhaga, in the behavior of business, you can see if a person is a baal emunah. I'd like to share with you a pshat I heard from Rav Pam, zecher tzaddik livrachah. The Gemara in Shabbos tells us that when a person comes to Shamayim, there's a judgment. There's three questions, a questionnaire of three questions. The first question is, nasata v'nasata be'emunah, sakta baTorah — excuse me, kavata itim laTorah — and the third thing is, tzipisa liyeshuah, did you hope for yeshuah? What is the translation of nasata v'nasata be'emunah, which means business dealings, and what's emunah? With integrity, with faith, honest. The word emunah here means honesty. How do I know this? In Shulchan Aruch, in siman kuf nun vav, when it talks about masa u'matan, how you're supposed to do your business, it quotes this Gemara, that a person should be masa u'matan be'emunah, and the Mishnah Berurah explains emunah here means truthful, truthful, ne'emanut. Faith means honest, integrity. Rav Pam zichrono livrachah said if that's all it meant, there's other words which are more punkt, tzedek. Nasata v'nasata b'tzedek. V'yoser, amar Rav Pam zichrono livrachah, be'emunah also means what? And muna bashan, and your behavior in truthfulness shows if it was nasata v'nasata b'emunah. And what is this answer? Why is this the first question? That's the first question. The first thing you ask a guy: How was your business? Why would you ask, How was his business? That's all. That's the whole first question talked about. Torah, kavati itim laTorah. Why is kavati itim laTorah the second question? Did you daven? Were you mekayem Shabbos? Why do we talk about nasata v'nasata b'emunah business? So I already told you in the call last week from my grandfather, the great Teretz. Remember the Teretz I told you? My grandfather's zatzal used to say over a pshat like this: When a person is asked, How come he didn't learn? Did you set time for learning? You know what he would answer? I didn't have the head for it. I didn't have the head for it. I didn't have the zitz fleish, which means I didn't have the sitting. I wasn't capable of learning. I was a jumpy guy without kisharon, without... You know what they say? Ah, guess what? We'll take out the business records. Oh, there you were so smart. There you had plenty of time, and there you had plenty of patience. That's why the first thing we ask: Let's see what's going on in business. And then we'll ask you kavati itim laTorah, because then you can't come up with an excuse and say, I just wasn't shayach. Oychicha chaleinecha. The pasuk says the greatest tochachah is when you prove a guy from his own actions he's a liar. You know who used to do this? Who was the first person to invent this type of tochachah? Anybody know? Yosef. Ha'od avi chai. That was the whole yesod of Yosef's tochachah. What did he say? Ani Yosef. Ha'od avi chai. What was ha'od avi chai? Did you care about your father then? You contradicting, you contradicting. Chicha choleinecha. Chazal tell us that when Mashiach comes, the Eibishter can do the same thing to us, like Yosef. You know what He's going to say to us? How can we even learn? Yeah? Come, let me show you how you are in the business, and let me show you how you are in the parties. In the parties, you were smart, and you had plenty of time to party, and... Come on, you could have learned. This is why we ask you first, according to Rav Pam's pshat, beautiful. The first question is emunah, emunah b'Hashem. And the proof of emunah, tell you the depth of what Rav Pam is saying, is not about how you talk. A lot of people walk around saying, Baruch Hashem, and b'ezras Hashem yisbarach, and it's—let me tell you, I know people who are koifer, who the name of Hashem doesn't leave their mouth. Doesn't leave their mouth. Why? Baruch Hashem and b'ezras Hashem yisbarach. And then when it comes to sitting and learning, instead of wheeling and dealing, they're busy wheeling and dealing. You know what they're showing? They don't really believe in Hashem. You want me to give you a good example? I'll give you a good example. It's just talk. I'll give you an example.

For example, Zev is atzali used to point out, when you buy a house, you pre-warn everything that could come up: fire and storm and anything that could happen, burglary, right? Kol davar sheyachol la'alot, it's in the insurance, right? Okay. You notice when people send out invitations, they have a shtick that they do the kedushas Levi's invitation, that the chassan is going to be in Eretz Yisrael. If Moshiach doesn't come, then the chassan will be here in America. Now lately they stopped it because it's getting boring. They have other shtick now. You know, they go from one— every ten years they have different shtick. But ten years ago that was the shtick. You remember these invitations? So it's behind— it was before your time. Ten years. It was for ten years that the shtick was to write that the chassan will be in Eretz Yisrael. Moshiach— it's going to be in Terrace on the Park. And then he writes that in case chas v'shalom Moshiach does come, I'm really in trouble. Like, you know, don't pay attention to Moshiach; better come to Terrace on the Park, okay? Wait a minute. For ten years they were doing it. It was based on the Kedushas Levi. They used to do it in Europe. Yerushalayim, Moshiach, Yerushalayim. They stopped it. Okay, now. Okay. So you hear, on the invitation they're pre-warning Moshiach, right? Do you ever see a person buy a house and write insurance in case Moshiach comes? In case Moshiach comes, right? In case Moshiach comes, the deal, whatever, the insurance— it's not in the details. You know why? Because you don't really believe Moshiach's coming. Every guy buys a house believes that he's here. He's here. Thirty-year mortgage, forty— When it comes to writing on an invitation, it's very easy. Mot kal lagid, you know, to write. It costs an extra five cents, hakol shalom a good Jew. Baruch Hashem, shiach, shiach. Do me a favor. You know, my grandfather used to say, I told you over the story that my grandfather used to say over with the rav, right, and the wife, you know. A wife comes home and she starts from a shiur, and she's crying and yelling and screaming. So the husband says, Chana, what happened? He says, You don't even know. You can't even mask. We have to get rid of the rav immediately, immediately. We have to get rid of him. What happened? He says, He got up and he started saying, Moshiach yavo. Moshiach is going to come and we're going to all have to leave our houses and go to Eretz Yisroel. My house, my car, my—what are you talking about? My kitchen? Chas v'shalom. So the husband's thinking and thinking and thinking. He says, You know, Chana, don't worry about it. Hashem is good. He saved us from Paro. He saved us from Nevuchadnetzar. He'll save us from this Moshiach also. Don't worry about it. Al tidag. Don't worry about it. Let me tell you something. You can talk about Moshiach and Hashem, and Hashem runs the world from today till tomorrow. It's usually the same people. The littlest thing that happens, they get angry, and then they get scared, and they make cheshbonot, and they don't rely on HaKadosh Baruch Hu at all, at all, at all. So just because a guy says it doesn't mean it. You want to see where he means it? As they say in English, he puts his money to his mouth. That's express, money to his mouth. In business, let's see in business if nosata, nosata be'emunah. That's where we test your emunah. So the question, the first one is emunah. It's not stam business. We want to know if you're a nice businessman. Emunah: did you have faith in Hashem? And the second question is Torah, and the third question is sipur Yeshua, okay? So according to Rav Pam, the dealings—and this is what I'm trying to explain to you in Rav Pam's word, because it's deep. It's deep in the dealings. You don't see it on klapei chutz. When a person deals with money, it's money. He wants to make money. From his behavior, you could see deep if he's really a ma'amin, or if he's not a ma'amin. Ribbis—the Torah is telling me, Vyareisa meElokecha. You could see deeply what's really going on, that you lack yiras Shamayim. You lack ki ani Hashem. You lack ha'maalecha me'eretz Mitzrayim. You see that it's not 100% truthful in your heart that Hashem runs the world, because if it would be, you would lend the money and not say, I have to make money with deals and wheeling, and on every step of the way I got to find another way how to make another penny.

With this, rabosai, I want to explain to you why it's in Yoreh Deah and not in Choshen Mishpat. I discussed with you that Hilchos Ribbis is in Hilchos... Wait a second. Yoreh Deah is the halachos of issur v'heter, what's asur and what's mutar. Choshen Mishpat is mamonos. I show you that where is it? It's in Bahar and not in Mishpat. I show you that the Rambam brings it in Malveh v'Loveh, but the Shulchan Aruch and the Tur, Tur and Shulchan Aruch bring it in Yoreh Deah. So you would say, Hey, what are you making such a deal for? It's not my deal. The Bach makes this deal. The Bach says the Tur speaks about Hilchos akum, the halachos of oved kochavim, and then he says, Ha'il v'ata li yadi, since this came to my hand—what do I mean, this? There's a halacha by an akum that ma'lin v'lo moridin, which means—I'm sorry, moridin v'lo ma'alin—which means you don't help him out, you don't care, it's all right, you don't have to, you don't directly hurt him. So once this halacha comes to me, so I'll talk about Hilchos ribbis. Says the Bach, what does that mean? Says the Bach, what's bothering the Tur? Why would I talk about it in Yoreh Deah and not in Choshen Mishpat? And the answer is, because by a goy you don't help, so there's a halacha you're allowed to take ribbis from a goy. So therefore he discusses the halacha of ribbis of a goy, and once he discusses the halacha of ribbis of a goy, he discusses bichlal Hilchos ribbis. Yeah, ktzas... The ribbis akum, זה, זה. Is the kavod one more davar kazeh? Yeah, but it's an interesting thing. Shulchan Aruch it should be that way, that the Tur should bring all of Hilchos ribbis, which is so much, because agav he spoke about a goy, and by a goy there's a heter ribbis. It's an interesting ha'arah. You know what I would say the pshat is? It's about issur vheter. It's not about mamon. In Hilchos mamon, you're not doing something so bad. What's illegal? You're making a fair deal. Isn't it a fair deal? It's not a fair deal. That's the chozeh. That's what we made up. That's the—what do we call that in English? That's the agreement. That's the agreement. The agreement. Yeah, but it's an agreement which is shayach to Hilchos akum, right after Hilchos akum. I'm going to tell you a little further, rabosai. Why taka is it mutar akum ribbis? If the pshat is it's Hilchos mamon, so then you can understand, because by a goy you don't care so much. Their money is not that important that you have to be careful. But if it's about you and emunah, so why taka should you not—should you take from a goy ribbis? According to some opinions, it's a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah, a mitzvah to take ribbis from a goy. What's the hashkafah? You should come and say, Don't take. So I saw an interesting Maharal. Maharal says like this: Hashem yisbarach bara olamo, v'ha'olam hu echad. The Maharal is in Nesivos Olam, Nesiv HaTzedakah, perek vav. Hashem yisbarach bara olamo, v'ha'olam hu echad. The world is one. V'lachein nivra olam b'inyan shehayom loiveh min halaylah. Day lends to night and night lends to day. Support system. The concept of this world is supporting. Day supports night, night supports day. You can't have pieces by itself. Nothing stands by itself. It's connected. The whole world is connected, and that's how it runs, with harmony. Yisrael heim echad l'Garmi. Jews are one. V'davar zeh me'oreh sheyesh lahem El echad. And that's based on the fact that we have one God. Anachnu bnei El echad. And therefore, when Hashem gives us money and the other person has a problem that he needs money, it is our duty to give him without ribbis. Echad. We're all one. We're here to support each other. We're here to be a unit and help out each other. Hamalveh b'ribbis noshech u'mechaser. He's ruining. And that's why.

Yeah. V'zehu inyan hakfirah b'likkei Yisrael b'yetzias Mitzrayim. So by taking ribbis, I'm undermining Hashem Echad by saying Klal Yisrael is not echad. So it's not shayach to a goy. So whatever concept that there's kefirah, there's heretics, heretism, in ribbis, it doesn't apply to ribbis from a gentile, okay? Maral. Interesting. With this, I want to explain the lashon of neshech. Why is ribbit? Now, the word ribbit—does anybody know what the word ribbit means? Larbot, extra. Neshech v'tarbit. Tarbit is adding, which means extra, right? What do we call that? It's a gain, a gain, a net gain, an increase. What is neshech? So pashut, the word neshech is to bite, which means the person is poor. He needs a loan. He's stuck. You bite him. Don't bite him. Lend him the money and be a mensch. You know, what are you, a dog? What are you biting? Neshech. Neshech is to bite. People don't know that that's not—Rashi says. Everybody says, what would you say neshech? You would say that, right? Would you say that? Ah, he knows the Rashi. It's a big problem. You have talmidim that know. It's a very big problem, because you can't pull the wool over their eyes. You know where the Rashi is? It's Shemos chaf beis. Shemos chaf beis, chaf daled. It says Rashi because it's little by little. You take a bite, you take a bite, and then it's like an infection. You ever see, you get a small bite from a spider? Can anyone's got a spider? Anybody ever get a spider bite? It's interesting, when you go to camps in the mountains, usually these things don't happen. When you go to yeshiva camps in the mountains, funny creatures will crawl around. No, but it's like a funny thing, like when I was in camps, that island, the creatures that—I'm serious—the creepy crawlers that they had over there was pillypally. So I got a bite from a weird type of spider that it started off, it looked like a mosquito bite. Within two days, I had to be in the hospital, okay? And the doctor said, No, you never saw anything like it. I don't know what it is, where it is, when it is, how it is. You know, there's creepy crawls. So neshech reminds me of that. Starts off with a small little thing, says Rashi. Go read the Rashi. And then it—what does that mean? You start off a little bit, game, ribbis. I take a few dollars. At the end of the day, you're busy with ribbis, and then you're losing all your money, and you have to borrow from ribbis. You become a whole— And I want you to know something. With Heter Iska, I know of an organization which was in the millions. That's how good they were doing. They were borrowing money left and right with iska. They claimed bankruptcy last week. Iska means that it's a muttardik way of taking ribbis, but why? Because they took so much, so much iska, it was just such a crazy amount that they lost all their money based on it. It becomes such a taiva. What, you have the Rashi? You want to read it? So I want to explain, I want to explain this. What is the pshat that it's like a neshech? It's like a bite. What does it mean, it's a bite? The concept of a bite, that it grows. Let me tell you over two Mishnas in Peirik Beis of Avos, which I think are very, very applicable to what we're talking about. The Mishnah in Avos, Peirik Beis, Mishnah Vav: Lo kol hamarbeh b'schorah machkim. You know what that means? Whoever does a lot of business deals, not necessarily he becomes smart. Lo kol hamarbeh b'schorah machkim. The meforshim say it's referring to Torah, Chochmas haTorah, because if you're busy with business, you don't have time to learn. I wasn't happy with that. Hagam all the meforshim say that. You know why? It shouldn't say, Lo kol hamarbeh b'schorah machkim. It should say, Hamarbeh b'schorah eino machkim. But what does it mean, not everyone who does a lot of business gets smart? Yeah, of course, if you do a lot of business, you usually won't get smart. I mean, it's a funny way of saying it. Just say, if you do more business, you'll be an idiot because you don't have time to learn. You know, what do you expect? Lo kol, which means there are people who do become smart. So I was thinking to myself, the Rashash. The Rashash made business. He became a tremendous—Rashash was a businessman. You know why the Rashash was printed? Because he printed it.

Rashash that we have today, how do we have? Because he himself went and printed it because he was rich. Huh? I don't know. I don't know what he did. That was already not negea to me, because Isaac wasn't gaining from his business or anything. I gained from his Rashash. I know that he wrote the Rashash after money. So I was thinking maybe that's what it means, because could be you could be business. Rebbe, Rebbe, he was very rich and at the same time a big talmid chacham. I was thinking this, but I wasn't happy. I said, you know what I think it means? Chochmah of life. A person thinks he's a big businessman. He thinks, wise guy, smart. He can remain the biggest idiot in the world. You know why? If you go into the business thinking you're the big businessman, you're an idiot. Kol chiva atzmi yadi. The more business he makes, the more he thinks he's a gavra rabba. You ever see a businessman? Sometimes you can't even talk to them. They're so chashuv, they can't. That's because it went to their heads and they're foolish. Foolish. They're foolish. Lo kol hamarbeh. Not every time a guy is marbeh sechorah, he becomes smart. He becomes more stupid sometimes. Makes a person an idiot because he thinks that he's something and he's a doer and he's a businessman, he's bright and he's brilliant. I know a guy in a shul, makes business all day long. Everywhere that comes out of his mouth is about business deals, wheeling and dealing. He thinks he's a brilliant guy and he thinks he knows chinuch. I never heard an intelligent word out of his mouth. Not one. Not one intelligent thing ever came out of his mouth. I said, you know what? That's intelligent. That makes sense. Talks like an idiot. He acts like an idiot. But he's a big businessman. Lo kol hamarbeh, yeah? It doesn't necessarily work. But I was afraid to say this pshat on my own. Matzati, I found it. The Alshich explains, chamor eivus ba'alav. The chamor knows where his parnassah comes from. It's a pasuk in Haazinu. No, it's Tasha. I'm sorry, chamor eivus ba'alav. Excuse me, yada shor koneihu. The chamor—excuse me—yada shor koneihu, chamor eivus ba'alav. Ami lo yada, my nation, Yisrael lo yada, they didn't know, right? Says the Alshich, that's what it's referring to. Sometimes a person, the chayra, he doesn't know where it's coming from. You're a fool. Even the chamor, even the donkey knows. Even the donkey knows what you don't know. Tell me, who was smarter, Bilaam or his donkey? From the pasuk is mashma that the smartest guy in the world, the donkey was smarter than him. The smartest guy in the world, but the donkey said more practical things than him. The donkey gave him mussar, which made so much sense. What are you hitting me for? There's a malach, don't you see it? In the case of the donkey and Bilaam, who looked like the Bilaam and who looked like the donkey? Bilaam looked like a bigger donkey, and I don't want to use the English term of it. He looked like a bigger than the—okay? All right? I'm making—I'm sure you all know what I'm referring to, right? This is what it means, lo kol hamarbeh. The chayra, machkim. First don't think business. Let me tell you over another Mishnah. The Mishnah says in Mishnah Ches. The Mishnah says like this. Here. Hu haya oimer. Hillel. Hillel used to say. Hillel was a bright man. What did he say? You remember the Mishnah, Hu haya oimer? You guys say Pirkei Avos? You don't say it in the summer. Hu haya oimer, no? Marbeh basar, marbeh rimah. Marbeh nechasim, marbeh da'agah. And everybody knows this: marbeh nechasim, marbeh da'agah. What does it mean? Pashut it means that the more you have, the more you worry about what you have. Tell me, you ever see a guy who has a junky yeshiva she car? He's not worried, so you see, he whacked it, so what? Big deal. You ever see a guy has a yeshiva she car? Someone told me he'd rather drive these type of cars because he doesn't have to go on the streets worrying about it getting whacked up, you know what I mean? Mashenkein the guy that has the fancy 2007 chevezvos. He drives, the—he's coming near me, and the guy—the scratch! He can't even enjoy his car because he's so worried that some guy is gonna put a scratch in it. Marbeh sechorah, marbeh da'agah. I have a problem with pshat in the Mishnah. If you look at every other case in the Mishnah, it's all about spiritual things: marbeh avadim, marbeh zimah; marbeh shifchah, marbeh this.

It's all about spiritual things. Marbeh daagah, what is it, a self-help book? You need a self-help book. You walk into Barnes and Noble and you get yourself one of these self-help books. They're telling you how not to have daagah. What is Hillel? Hillel's giving you good advice. Maybe, I don't know, maybe Pirkei Avos, you have to discuss this on a different shiur. We once discussed this topic, I don't know if you remember. We discussed, is everything in Pirkei Avos ruchniyus, or it's also about good advice on how to live? You know, maybe Hillel's giving you good advice: marbeh nechasim, marbeh daagah. Who needs daagah? It causes heart pressure, blood pressure, cholesterol, ... Marbeh nechasim, marbeh daagah. Or we could say, maybe Hillel was a chassidisher. He held a daagah, ... simchah, and it's also ruchniyus. I'm trying to understand the Mishnah. Why would Hillel need to tell me not to have a lot of objects, a lot of things, because all it causes is worry? And if I worry, so what? What do you care if I worry? What does Hillel care? My nature is to worry. Who cares? It's your business that I worry. So either you say the pshat is Hillel gave you good advice, I don't know, or you say worrying is a chesaron in simchah. A person who is b'simchah doesn't worry. Maybe. I don't think that's the pshat. I don't think that's the pshat. I found the Mamloyes says this also. Mamloyes says, yesh davar acher, another pshat: marbeh nechasim doesn't mean marbeh, mi sheyesh lo rav. It doesn't mean if someone has. Marbeh doesn't mean—let's translate, what does marbeh mean? He is marbeh. Let's say, Mi sheyesh lo ribui nechasim, dai yesh loi daiga. Marbeh means he makes that he should have more. He runs after it. You run after it, you don't realize that the Ribono Shel Olam is the one that gave it to you. And if you don't realize that the Ribono Shel Olam gave it to you, so you're always worried, you're always worried. Maybe I won't have it. Maybe I have to get more. But if you know it's all from HaKadosh Baruch Hu... Marbeh daiga. He says there's another pasuk that says it over here too. I saw in the Malbim, that's where I saw it. Oh, so marbeh means this is the ku that you're running after it. Marbeh daiga, and that's a chisaron in vyiresa melokecha. Rabosai, let me tell you, I know the oilam is dying from the shiur. I don't really care, to be honest with you. It doesn't bother me. You have five more minutes. I have a half hour. I hope you have a half hour. Have your eleven, twelve, thirteen. Keep going. This is where you get the schar kulam. This is where the last few minutes where I can't even sit anymore, I can't take it anymore. Let me tell you what I did for you. If you would have listened from the beginning to the end, you notice I translated every word of this parsha, Nesach. I threw everything at you, the word nesach and tarbis and vyiresa melokecha and ani Hashem asher hotzeisichem. I explained to you every single word. Now I want to go to the last word that I didn't explain yet: chei, pricha, ima. Chayecha chichimach. Does anybody know what we darshen from v'chei achicha imach? Chayecha. Rabbi Akiva, bava metzia, right? Rabbi Akiva in Bava Metzia says, v'chai achicha imach, and what? Chayecha kodmin. That your life comes first, which means that if you're going in the midbar and there's one cup of water and it belongs to you, don't give it to the other guy. You take it for yourself. Sounds very selfish, no? Very selfish. I have a question. Before we discuss how selfish this really is, what is it doing here? I never understood that. Like, why is it in the parashah of Rivis? Chai achicha imach, chayecha kodmin, you come first. What does it have to do with ribbis? I don't know. The story of ribbis, the story of ribbis is that you don't care about yourself; you care about the other guy. You're not taking from him ribbis. But the story of ribbis—it's a bad case, it's a bad example. This is an example of not you first. You know, I would say, me first, I take ribbis. Me first. I come first. A guy who has such an attitude, I come first. Does he take ribbis or he doesn't take ribbis? He takes. Sure. I come first. Why my money? Who cares about you? You need money. It's not my problem. Why is it over here? Yes, it is. Continue.

Continue. Che chichimach, no? Right here, the che chichimach, chayacha kaimin. It's learned out from here. What's it doing here? It's hard to understand what's it doing here. Shema kasheh me'od. It's out of context. This kasha bothered me all my life. Let me tell you what I think the pshat is. You ready? There's a meirdike vort from the Imrei Emes. Who was the one who said chayecha kodmin? You know who it was? Reb Akiva. Go through Shas and you'll find, says Imrei Emes, Reb Akiva is the least selfish person in the world. And he brings one example that Reb Akiva was ready to give up his life for HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Maaseh, avoi, davar zeh va'eikaymena. Hear? Maaseh, avoi, davar zeh va'eikaymena. Now I want to eat. Who said zeh klal gadol baTorah? Reb Akiva. Va'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha, which means it's not me. The other guy just as important as me. That's what I'm adding to the Imrei Emes, yeah? Says the Imrei Emes, it's dafka Reb Akiva that had the right to say chayecha kodmin. If another person would say chayecha kodmin, you know what you would say? It's because you want and you feel that, so therefore you found them in the pasuk. You found them a makor of chayecha kodmin because you're a selfish guy anyway. But Reb Akiva, who was the most selfless person, so he's ra'ui to come and say, It's beautiful, beautiful. Oh, beautiful, I mean, one second. This is classic, classic Sfas Emes. Classic. Davka Reb Akiva, that was ready to give away his life, and he didn't care about himself, davka he says, Chayecha kodmin. Okay. So let's discuss it in the context of ribbis. What does that do, ribbis? You know what I would say ribbis? Ribbis is about the other guy. But the whole shiur was saying the opposite of that. What were we trying to bring out? Is ribbis about the other guy, or is ribbis about me and my emunah? It's about me and my emunah. Says the Torah, Chayecha kodmin. It's not about the other person. It's about you. And it's about chayecha, and it's about chayecha kodmin, and still lo sikach mitai neshech vtarbis, vyareisa meElokecha. You would say, I take ribbis, right? Why am I taking ribbis? For me, right? Chayecha kodmin. Lo sikach, because chayecha kodmin. You know, I'm going to tell you over a shtikel emes. Emes, the same emes that we spoke before says, tzedakah is the opposite of ribbis. Tzedakah is chayim. Ribbis is neshicha vheder, death. Death. Yeah. Because tzaddik b'emunaso yichyeh. You want to know what life is all about? True life. You want to know when a person lives? He lives with Hashem. You walk in the street and you think... You know what? Because I'm an open, honest person, and I want to grow with you, I'll share with you why I'm telling you this. Really, I don't know if it's just a smart idea if a rabbi should share with his people why he says what he says. But there are a few reasons why I'm saying it. One of them I'll share with you because this is about me. This speech was about me. I'll tell you how it's about me. Ready? I get offers in Lakewood a lot to become a rabbi in different places, shuls. I get these offers. I learned by now not to take them that serious because it's all, you know, the whim of the moment, and they don't put any effort into it. It's very easy to offer people things, money. No, I'm saying it's easy to offer and then just put your money where your mouth is. Okay. So what did I do? I decided I don't want to hear any more about this. What I would do is the other way around. I'll do it on my own, and if you're interested in learning, you come to me, because then I'm the baalabos. You see, I decide what we learn, like here. Could you imagine if this was a shiur that whoever wants could come, so they'll leave after an hour, meaning that I'm here, too bad on you. You don't like it, you can leave the door. I don't care if you don't like it. This is it. This is the shiur. You like it, you're good. You don't like it, too bad.

So I decided that's the right way to do it. So I get offers from the brokers to find, you know, when they find a good lot, a lot of land in a nice location, they know what I'm looking for, so they call me up. I got a call next to where I live now, in the place, in the ghetto that I live in, there's a nice community, which is not a ghetto, it's more residential. I should go look at a lot. My wife gets excited right away. We go. The minute she hears, we go. I am a little more lazy, and I have more better things on my mind than just to run after everybody's phone calls. So I decided I'd rather not go. I'll give it to she wants, okay? So she's schlepping, so we go. All right. I come there. The guy who's selling the house, you know, he's an older Jew, more simple, modern, you know, not... He's so nice, sweet, wonderful Jew, wonderful. Couldn't even get the door open. He's the broker, couldn't get the door open. So I'm standing there in front of the house. The house is dilapidated. Two acres of land. Does anybody know how much two acres of land is? It's almost like a block. It's a full—this block, I think, Kemat the whole block is like two acres. No, you know what two acres? It's be'erich like from the yeshiva to the end of the block. That's how much land we're talking, all right? Each person on the block has that amount of land, okay? The land goes from the neighborhood all the way to the next neighborhood, which is where I live, which means you're able to go from your backyard right into the next neighborhood. That's how much land we're talking. I come there, and I start discussing, you know, maybe we'll make the shul in the front, leave the house, in the back we'll build. You're talking about two acres of land. What's the problem? Muncie has the same problem. Because it's so residential, so every guy who bought a house decides he's a big balabos now. He's high class. He's not the regular guy who lives in the apartments anymore. So he doesn't want a shul on his block because it's mechashiv shem the Yidden, and it's not good because people are going to come, and he wants his privacy and his quiet and his... I know this, this I know. But I expected that with two acres of land, two acres of land, it should be enough, that there shouldn't be a problem. I was wrong. Why was I wrong? I was there exactly five minutes, exactly five minutes. The door, they couldn't even open the door. They couldn't even open—the guy couldn't open the door, you hear? I was exactly five minutes with my wife and my son. Five minutes. The neighbor comes because he saw from the window. They have nothing what to do, so they're looking from the window, the binoculars, who's, you know, who's coming, yeah? What do you have in mind? You should know that you can't really build back there because it's wetlands. So the broker says, No, it's not. I'm the broker, and I can show you that it's not wetlands. Don't listen to him, he tells me. I know because it's wetlands. So I'm looking, I see right, he's fighting with the—he doesn't even—within a minute, he's already—the first Sholom Aleichem was fighting with the broker. I looked at the broker. I thought, okay, why do you care? Okay, find out if it's wetlands. You have to fight if it is or it's not. I'll find out, we'll find out if it is or it's not. What's there to fight about? Then he says to me, What are you, a [unclear]? What are my plans? What are you, a house? I don't know. You're the moiche, you're the koneh. What are you talking about? I look like I—what are you talking about? But I know what it is, you know, because it's his business. He's the mayor on the block. It's his business. So I just threw him, you know, maybe a shul front, back, there, there. And who said we want a shul on this block? Now, usually, until I moved to Lakewood, I'm the type of person that I'm gonna fight with you, all right. It bothered me very much. So I turned to him and I asked, Tell me, where do you daven? He tells me, Daven's the next block. So I asked him, I don't understand something. What is in a shul that could bother you? The davening part? The learning part? Which part of the shul bothers you? So he tells me, No, the people. I said, So why should the next block be soifel you that you come to them? Maybe it should be the other way around, that the next block should come here, the shul here.

Next block is the one that should be the block with the shul, and that you have the right to come to them. It's the same neighborhood. He's thinking and he's thinking. He had no answer because he's yucked, right? Because... okay. I don't say anything more. So I tell him, by the way, do you ever walk to the next complex, the next neighborhood? He says, Yeah, he does, but it's very hard to walk. I said, You know, I'll do you a toivah. I'll make a path from my backyard into that complex. Like this, whenever you need, you can go there, because there's beautiful land. The complex that I live in, when I came to Piso, it's beautiful land, park, it's open, it's okay. So he starts telling me, But wait a minute. He says, Who says I want that? Who says I want that? Who says I want that people should walk from there to my block over here? I want it quiet. I said, Again, I don't understand you. Why is it you feel you can walk to them, and you don't understand why maybe if they want to walk to your block, and besides, they're Yidden. They're not going to do anything to you. Yiddishe people are walking on your block and it bothers you? So he looks at me, he goes, No, no, I didn't say it was me. And I know this trick. It's not me, it's the neighbor, the next-door neighbor. It's not him, it's the next-door neighbor. Then I look at him and I go, You know something? I already, you know, my grandfather taught me a big yesod. When you want to find out what a person is, it's like a blood test. You don't have to take out all his blood to find out. You just need a sample. I got my sample already of what this guy is all about. And I look at him, and I tell him, By the way, what... He tells me, Brisk? Brisk? So I go, Which one? And I know they don't like that question. Why? Because when you say which one, it's not like he's the chashuva guy who gets into the chashuv. It means you're right to be in any one of them. And the truth is, believe me, you're not right to be in any of them. It is what it is. I know it bothers him. He tells me, What do you mean, Brisk? There's more than one? There's only one Brisk. Brisk. So I go, Okay, good. Now he's waiting for my reaction, so I learned this yesod also: don't react. Don't react. Okay. I gave what he had to hear from me, and I see like he wants to hear more, like, so let's discuss it. I don't want to discuss it with you. I'm not that uncomfortable by your land, and I discuss with you. I go next door to my brother-in-law and I ask, By the way, he sits and learns this guy? He says, No, he works. How does he have a house like this? He works. The big Brisker. So I wanted to ask him the following question: in which Chumash shiur did Rav Avram Yeshua say, A, that you should go to work, that you should buy yourself a fancy house with two acres of land, and that if a shul wants to move in in the two acres next door, they shouldn't have? I want to know which Chumash shiur did you learn that? Okay. Friday afternoon I get a phone call from the other neighbor, the other neighbor. Now, I want you to know the two phone calls that were before it. This girl called me up. Oh, by the way, it's Agav, Moshe's sister is a kallah. You know Moshe? Moshe used to learn by us. Moshe's sister is a kallah. Check. Moshe's sister calls me up. She's a kallah. Baruch Hashem, it was a complicated issue. Baruch Hashem, yeah. The next thing was an almoner called me up. She has a problem with money. And then this third guy called me up. So you can imagine, after two serious, important phone calls, I get a phone call from this clown, okay? What happens? Shalom aleichem, Reb Aryeh. There's a rumor that you want to build a shul. There's a rumor. I want to build a shul. If it's not true, you hear like a bad rumor. It's like a lashon hara. If it's not true, then we can say good Shabbos and we can move on. And if it is true, he tells me, so I finished off, you can still say good Shabbos and move on. Because what's the pshat? If it's not true, then I have nothing to talk. And if it is true, I'll fight with you. Who said that I don't want to fight with you? There's nothing to talk about also. I want you to know that I'm going to fight you to the end for my privacy, for building a shul in my backyard. I'm listening to this. I'm saying, I'm building a shul in your backyard? You own the land? What are you talking—how is that your backyard? What are you referring to? You know what I answered him? I guess we can still say good Shabbos, and I hung up. Okay. Lo zayin azoi. What am I telling you? Do you know that this person's father makes...

And the funniest thing is, which I'm still gonna tell, my plan was, and I spoke to—he doesn't know this—I spoke to this guy's father last week, and my kavana was to install this guy's father's kehillah by me, and that was the plan. He doesn't know, and he calls me up with this. You know what I realized? A person could get so wrapped up in his mumdus of yetzer hara that he could say, I don't want a shidduch, and he could call up another person, I'll fight with you. I'm a brisker. I'm a brisker. I'm a talmid chacham. I'm a chashuv person. I'm that. You could walk around. A person could walk around, yeah, with a beard and linen, a brisker and learning and Hashem and HaKadosh Baruch Hu, and when it comes to mumdus, he shows his true colors of emunah. I hung up the phone and I said, Take a look. What am I oisek on mumdus? You say, if you knew the stuff that I listen to during the day and I run after helping this and that, and then I got this call. I said, I don't even want to talk to you. Why don't I want to talk to you? Because tzaddik b'emunaso yichyeh, nosaton v'nasata b'emunah. Your whole gisha, your whole look—you could say from today till tomorrow, chasdei Hashem and HaKadosh Baruch Hu—but your actions speak louder than words, that you have no understanding why you're here in this world, what your money is meant for. If you, because of your momness, will not let a shul next door, and to think you're right, to think you're right. My privacy, privacy. What, they're gonna eat you up? What are they gonna do to you? Two acres of land. Neshach. You know what the word neshach? It starts small, but it's like a deep corruption. You get lost in it. You don't even realize. It grows and grows and grows and grows. You know what the yetzer is? Healthy from the start. You go out into the world, you oisek in money, you oisek in life. Perspective. The right perspective. Perspective. The minute you don't have the right perspective, kol hamarbeh sichah, lo kol hamarbeh sichah machkim. You can start saying the most foolish things. Foolish. For yarei Shamayim to listen to the conversation of this quote-unquote brisker talmid chacham sitting and learning, you would think the guy sits and learns day and night. No, he's not even learning. He's busy with sitting in the window being afraid who's the guy who's gonna buy the house next door. Now I'm asking you, that's yarei Shamayim? I want to know, is that yarei Shamayim? He thinks he has. No, but he thinks he has yarei Shamayim. It's a frightening thing. That's neshach, and it starts from small, small. It's like a bite when you're off. You know, I don't know if you know what stigmatism is. Stigmatism is when you're a little off, and as you grow, so you grow off. It gets worse. The stigmatism of the eye gets worse as the eye pupil gets bigger. That's what a stigmatism is, and that's why people, as they get older, their glasses get worse. Momness is like a stigmatism. If your perspective isn't right, then you grow further and further away from the pnim, from the truth. This is v'yareta. You have to work on, Rabosai, the truth. Perspective is a complicated thing in life. It's not an action. It's daas. It's the way you think. It's the way you look at things. Let's taka be zoche. Chayei ha'emes. We want to live, Rabosai. Tzadi b'menosa yichid. Listen to me. A whole life to be thrown out into silly, be oisek in nonsense. Wrong perspective in life. Let's get the right perspective. Taka be zoche, Eretz Yisrael, al yad Hashem...