The Trust Factor
A daily lesson that focuses on achieving unparalleled success in life using ancient wisdom in modern times.
We will be discussing critical concepts as they are laid out in the book Sha'ar Habitachon - The Gate of Trust. Written 1000 years ago, the author reminds us of the values and wisdom that have allowed humanity to thrive throughout history.
The concept of trusting in a higher power that exists purely for our benefit, puts us in the drivers seat with absolute confidence to achieve greatness.
Eliminate: Fear, Hatred, Anxiety, Depression, Jealousy, Greed...forever!
* Note that some terminology will be in the original Hebrew or Aramaic which I will always follow with the English translation.
The Trust Factor
Episode 146 - Holy Choices, Real Consequences: The $5,000 Miracle
What defines a truly successful life? Is it measured in years lived or impact made? Through the lens of Charlie Kirk's passing at just 31, we explore how this young man captured worldwide attention and respect by simply sharing timeless moral teachings that have guided humanity for generations.
The path to a meaningful existence doesn't require becoming a public figure. There's a beautiful balance where we can maintain ordinary jobs and families while living honorably and guiding others. Yet our society has systematically removed these fundamental teachings from educational institutions, paradoxically offering spiritual guidance only after someone has already hit rock bottom. This backward approach leaves many wondering why we wait until crisis strikes before introducing the very principles that could have prevented it.
The highlight of this episode comes through the story of a humble rabbi who teaches not just with words but with heart. When faced with a perfectly legal way to save $5,000 through a tax arrangement that didn't feel completely transparent to him, he chose to pay his son's tuition directly despite financial hardship. A year later, at a wedding celebration, a wealthy acquaintance—moved by the rabbi's extraordinary integrity—secretly handed him a check for exactly $5,000. This powerful example illustrates how operating with complete transparency and integrity often results in unexpected blessings. It marks the transition from mere faith to genuine trust—putting principles on the line and experiencing divine provision firsthand. Join us to discover how ancient wisdom still guides modern success, and consider subscribing to continue exploring the trust factor that guarantees results when implemented.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Trust Factor, the podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age-old teachings. Happy Friday, my friends. Bh. Thank God it's Friday.
Speaker 1:Yesterday we discussed the elephant in the room and everybody around the world is mourning the loss of Charlie Kirk. He was obviously somebody, and you know what you know. What's really amazing Is to see that Charlie Kirk, by the age of 31, had the whole world eating out of his hands. He had the United States of America, the most powerful man on the planet, making all kinds of announcements on his behalf and making so many commitments to finding the killer which, by the way, we understand he's in custody, or at least that's what the speculation is. Understand he's in custody, or at least that's what the speculation is finding him and giving him a certain death penalty and making sure that the world gets the message that these types of actions are going to go severely punished.
Speaker 1:Now what was charlie kirk doing? What was so great about him that allowed him to be so successful and so influential by the age of 31.? He's a kid just figuring out life, and he's so successful that everybody, who's anybody, is singing his praises. And the answer is are you ready for this, my friends? He was sharing the same information that is being shared here, that is being shared in synagogues by Orthodox rabbis and has been for generations. All he has been doing is educating humanity on the right way to live, the right moral compass, the right decision-making processes. He has been trying to fight a corrupt trend that's what he committed his life to and representing godliness. And because of that, look, just look at what success this individual had achieved in his life. My friends, you know, it's not about quantity, it's about quality.
Speaker 1:This individual understood that we can live 120 years and on our deathbed we can regret every minute because we chose wrong or we didn't choose right. Or we can live 30 years but be memorialized in history forever because of the way you lived those 30 years. What a difference, what a choice. Now you don't have to be a Charlie Kirk. If you can, the world needs you Step up. But you don't have to be a Charlie Kirk and you don't have to be the guy who's at 120 regretting his life. There is a thing called balance. You can live a life that is worthy of praise and reflection and honor and distinction, and not spend your life traveling around the world, from university to university, trying to bring that message to the world. You don't have to. You can have a regular day job, you can have a regular family, you don't need to be in the limelight and you could still make sure that you live a proper life and that you educate others on how to do it.
Speaker 1:Having said that, I just want to finish this off with what we talked yesterday. We touched on the fact that the reason that all this is happening in the world is because we've strayed so far from Torah. What's the proof? The proof is that we have taken it out of our school systems. So long ago. They fought tooth and nail, these political leaders, to be able to take the Torah, to take God and godliness and the Bible out of the classroom. There's no prayers, there's no mention of his name, there's no study of his history, there's just no discussion of godliness and Torah or Bible. It was removed.
Speaker 1:Unless you go to an orthodox private school which, thank God, I sent my children to. I had that merit but if you don't, you're stuck with a public system and that public system has been fighting godliness for generations. When does godliness come up? In secularism, in government, in politics? The only time that they bring up God is when you've hit rock bottom, when you find yourself incarcerated in the prison system because of the corrupt life that you've led, of criminality, and you get caught and they throw you in a prison cell. Then they'll come along and suggest you know, son, you might want to read this book and give you a Bible. You know what it's too late. That Bible should have been in his hands when he was in. Too late. That Bible should have been in his hands when he was in grade school. That Bible should have been part of his curriculum since day one, at home and in school. It's only after we've hit rock bottom that they present us with the antidote to all of our problems. My friends, that antidote I'm giving over to you now, and more of it is available every day. All you need to do is find yourself your Orthodox rabbi and sit with him and get educated and learn the right way to live so that we don't end up making these mistakes and God forbid ending up in a prison cell or worse.
Speaker 1:Now let's switch gears back to something positive, because the day before that we were talking about charity. We were talking about how somebody who has faith and trust in god operates when it comes to interaction between ourselves and our fellow man. And those mitzvahs, those commandments and I was telling you that there are good ways to do a mitzvah and there are bad ways to do a mitzvah today we have systems in place to be able to allow us to be able to benefit from the act of doing a mitzvah materially. I'll give you an example To send your children to an orthodox Hebrew day school to teach them Torah is a huge, huge commandment. It is the number one, in fact, commandment to be able to educate your children in the ways of Torah and godliness. So if you're sending them to an orthodox school, it is a massive, massive mitzvah. Now, that's not cheap, it's very expensive.
Speaker 1:Why am I telling you this? Because a long time ago, maybe 10 years ago, when I wanted to up my game in my learning, I joined a kola, which is a learning center for adults, and I sat and learned at night and there was always an individual who would come in, who I never knew, never spoke to and was always on his own, but I noticed him for some reason. He would come in, go back to the back of the room, he'd take out his laptop and he would sit there doing his work in the COLA, whatever. Nobody knew what he was doing At least I didn't he was doing, at least I didn't. He was doing his own thing. He looked very serious, very focused, and I just happened to notice him. Every time I would go, which was often, he would be there doing his thing on his laptop. So I took note.
Speaker 1:Now fast forward to about a year, maybe two years ago. A new colel opens up and I hadn't been to the old one in a few years, especially since covid. A new colel opens up a a new learning center, and I go and they're bringing in multiple rabbis to come and teach. And who is one of these rabbis? This individual, the guy who I used to see come into the old kolel with his laptop, and suddenly I see that he's got a growing table. All the other guys who were teaching are. I have a few guys at the table, but he's got a lot and my son is learning by him also. And I thought, hmm, maybe this is an opportunity for me to figure out who this individual is. And so I moved over to sit at his table and learn by him. My son and I learned by him, and it wasn't long before the vast majority of the kolah was learning by him.
Speaker 1:The other rabbis were fantastic. They had their following two, three, five, six guys but we could never find the space around the table of the rabbi that we were learning with. Why? Because everybody fell in love with him. Why did we fall in love with him? Because of who he was, because of how he taught. He didn't teach with words alone. He taught with actions. He taught with passion. When he gave over a story, or even when he just taught Torah, it came from his heart. The words that came out of his mouth came from his heart and therefore penetrated our heart. It says words that come out of the heart penetrate the heart, and that's who this individual was. He taught from the heart and we received directly to our hearts from him. We all fell in love with him and he would tell a story after story about his personal life, and one of those stories I want to share with you, which is a wonderful example of what I was talking about a few days ago with regards to doing a mitzvah, doing charity specifically.
Speaker 1:This individual does not have a lot of money. He didn't have a lot of money then, and I'm sure he doesn't have a lot now. He is in the education system in the Orthodox Jewish schools, which by definition means he does not earn a lot when he earns, because sometimes they don't even get paid. At least that used to be the case. I don't know if that's changed, but it's a very, very difficult industry to make a reasonable living in. We certainly try to make sure that they get paid properly for their efforts, but it's very difficult when you have a community of people who have to pay so much money to be able to educate their children.
Speaker 1:Anyway, long story short, he's in this business. He's a teacher for children in an Orthodox Jewish day school, so he doesn't earn a lot and, like most religious families, he has many kids, thank God, beautiful family. He doesn't lack for anything. God takes care of him, he has what he needs and he has never lacked. However, he does not have extra funds kicking around. He does not have the luxury of being loose with his money. He has to be very calculated with where and how he spends his money.
Speaker 1:Now the story goes when the son was going to school, I believe it was in New York, an orthodox school. Post-secondary it was even that much more expensive. Now, if you're familiar with the system, you know that we have an ability to pay in to a registered charity in Canada which then pays the institution in the US, and you can still get a tax receipt, which to an individual like him is very important, when he could pay $20,000 and get $10,000 of it back through an organized charity, a registered charity in Canada, and still be able to educate their child. And it's completely legit, it's on the up and up, it's completely above board, and he was faced with that opportunity, which was critical for him to be able to have the ability to save that money. But something about it didn't feel right, Something about it didn't sit well with him and he checked with his rabbi and his rabbi said it's a hundred percent kosher. You can do it that way. You can give the money here, locally. They will pay the tuition, you will get a tax receipt. Everybody does it, government has approved it. It is completely kosher. But this individual you have to understand. The reason we all fell in love with him is because he's not an average individual. It's because he is refined beyond most people in this world and there was something gnawing at him that said, you know what I don't like it. Something just doesn't sit right with me. He didn't feel that it was completely, 100% transparent and therefore he made a determination that he was not going to use this organization, this charity in Canada, and he paid the institution in the US directly and he gave up on that tax receipt which was, let's call it, $5,000. Let's say the tuition was $10,000. He would have gotten back $5,000. He didn't opt for it. That was a very difficult move for this individual.
Speaker 1:Fast forward about a year later. This rabbi is at a wedding and he's sitting at a table next to an old acquaintance of his. He hasn't seen this person in a very long time and they're starting to catch up and he realizes that this person has done very well. They're asking each other about their life. He's telling him about how successful he's been and, thank God, hashem has been good to him and he's earned a lot of money. Thank God, things are good. The rabbi says I'm doing okay, no complaints. Thank God, I'm a teacher. My kid just went to school in the US. So they're discussing that.
Speaker 1:And so this wealthy person says to him who did you take advantage of? You obviously paid it through the Canadian system, you get a tax receipt, and he said no. He said I didn't, I chose not to, and this person was beside himself. So why would you do that? And he explained, even though my rabbi told me it was kosher and everybody's doing it and it's government approved something about it did not feel good by me.
Speaker 1:Now this individual who was sitting beside him later on found himself dancing beside him when the bride and groom came out. They were doing the horror, dancing around the bride and groom or the groom, and suddenly this rabbi feels somebody grab his hand and stuff something in his hand while they're dancing. Later on he sees that the individual that he was sitting beside stuffed a check into his hand for $5,000. He went over to him and said what are you doing? It's a lot of money. And he said yes, but I want to share in your child's learning.
Speaker 1:My friends, what's the moral of the story? This individual saw in this rabbi what we all saw a pure, straight, holy neshama, a holy soul and recognized that this individual is somebody to keep close and his offspring are people that are worthy of keeping close. Their Torah is on another level and in recognizing that this individual, stepped up and gave him money. But let me ask you a question Where'd the money come from? Was it this individual, or was it from the loving creator, who decided that there is no such thing as losing when you do a mitzvah? That's a shining example of how this world works, my friends. So please keep that in mind when you operate. It's very difficult to live our lives looking at other people and their stories. Sometimes you've got to put your neck on the line and experience God for yourself. That, my friends, is the transition. That is where faith stops and trust starts. Have an amazing Shabbat, have an amazing weekend. We'll speak again on Sunday.
