Episode 87 - What If Humiliation Is A Door To Blessing

Your Passover prep might be finished, but the deeper work is just starting. We’re talking about freedom in the most practical sense: the habits, cravings, and distractions that quietly run our days, and how the holiday of Passover can become a real turning point instead of another ritual we rush through. I share a core Jewish idea I come back to every year: the calendar isn’t random. When a holiday arrives, its theme comes with extra spiritual “help in the air” if we actually reach for it with honest prayer and matching actions. 

From there, we get very real about modern slavery. For many of us it’s technology addiction, engineered to hijack attention and pull us toward the inconsequential. For others it’s alcohol, drugs, gambling, or destructive relationships. Passover is a powerful moment to name the vice, ask God for help, and set boundaries that prove we’re sincere. No magic tricks, no excuses, just a better window of odds if we show up and do our part. 

Then we shift to something almost everyone faces: insults and humiliation. I walk through a Torah lens on public shaming, why it’s treated with extreme seriousness, and why clapping back can turn one person’s wrongdoing into two. The challenge is learning to stay calm, keep your lips shut, and see the moment as a test of emunah rather than an ego emergency. I also share a striking takeaway: if you see someone embarrassed and they don’t respond, go after them and ask them for a blessing, because that restraint carries rare spiritual power. 

Subscribe for more, share this with someone who needs a reset before Passover, and leave a review with the line that hit you hardest.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

The trust factor is a ticket to a vent. The trust factor shows you how to get through the mind.

unknown 0:21

Trust factor.

Passover And The Power Of The Season

Breaking Free From Tech And Vices

Insults Humiliation And Trust In God

Staying Quiet And Earning Reward

Ask The Shamed Person For Blessings

Passover Wishes And How To Share

SPEAKER_00 0:22

The world is louder and more chaotic than ever. That's why clarity and truth have never been more important. Welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast. Good morning, everybody. We've made it. It's now Passover. We are on the eve of Passover. Tonight is it. So if you've done everything you needed to do, kudos to you. If you haven't, scramble to get it done this morning and then focus on what's to come. You're going to have until Saturday night to be able to connect back to your creator, to connect back to a higher purpose. God willing, it should be that this month of Nisan, this Passover should be the final one where we live in this Galut, where we live outside of Israel and where we live in a world that is full of confusion. Everything should flip. This coming Passover, this month of Nisan, we should flip the script on life, and everybody should have absolute clarity on who runs the world. God willing, that will be in these coming days over the next eight days. I want to also share with you guys an idea. I don't know, I've I may have shared it in season one, but it's worth reviewing. God created this world in a way that depending on the time of the year, whatever holiday theme we find ourselves in, there is an extra ability in the air to be able to benefit from that theme. We just came out of the month of Adar, and in the month of Adar, we're told that we have to increase our happiness. Now, if you want to increase your happiness, then God puts in the air an additional divine assistance to allow you to be that much happier in the month of Adar. And it's the same thing by the holidays. If you want to grow in your level of observance and your connection with your creator and the Torah that he gave us, then on the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the receiving of the Torah, there is an extra ability in the air for each and every one of us who wants to grow in that realm to be able to connect back to our Creator and His Torah. If you want, the same thing is happening right now. The theme of Passover is freedom from slavery, the Exodus from Egypt, where we were slaves for 210 years. What's the message? Today we all have vices, we all have things that hold us back. For so many of us, it's our technology. Technology has been perfected to be able to lock you down, to distract you from the important things in your life. It is so effective at it that they that's the reason, by the way, that Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook, when he was a kid, pimple faced kid, just came out with this concept of Facebook back in his university days. He was offered a billion dollars clean. A billion. Nobody even knew what Facebook was. And yet he was offered a billion dollars and he said, No, thank you. As a kid in university, say no to a billion dollars. I think this must have been over 20 years ago. Think about a billion dollars back then. It's multi-billions today. It's probably the equivalent of three or four billion. And he said, No, thank you. Do you understand what's going on over here? Because he understood what I'm telling you now, that they have perfected hacking the human genome. They know how to take your attention away from everything and everyone that you need to be focused on and to get you to focus on the mundane, on the ridiculousness, on the things that are inconsequential, or even worse, the things that will bring you down. Now it doesn't have to be technology. It could be that your vice is alcohol or drug abuse or relations or gambling. There is not a lack of vices and addictions that people are slaves to these days. This is the time over the next eight days. Pour your heart out. If you really want to break free, to break out of the chains that these devices and these vices are keeping you locked in, then this is the time. There is an extra divine power in the atmosphere that you can all tap into by just saying, God, I want to change X. I want to stop doing Y. I can't do it without you. I need you behind me. If you're behind me, I can do anything. And if you're heartfelt and you're sincere, then you will get that divine assistance now more than any other time of the year. Nothing is foolproof, my friends, because at the end of the day, the buck will stop with you. You can't just ask for it and then revert back as soon as Passover's done. And you can't ask for it while you're sitting at the Seder table tonight, taking back four full cups of wine when alcohol is your problem. Yeah? The holiday is not an excuse. If you're an alcoholic, you're not drinking wine at the Seder table. Have grape juice. So you can't have a big, tall glass of wine that you're taking down like water while you're asking God for help to not be an alcoholic, right? So at the end of the day, your actions are going to have consequences. But if you're ever going to have additional assistance to be able to be successful, to increase your odds at success in this department, it is over the next eight days. Give it a shot. And God willing, with his help, you'll come out successful in whatever your vices are. Let's get back into it, my friends. Yesterday I told you we were going to talk about insults and humiliation. I'm going to read a little bit and then I'll tell you what I've learned about it. A major test is when a person receives insults and humiliation in the course of his position. Now he's talking about somebody in a position of authority over all the more so a person in a position of authority, because you're going to insult me? Do you know who you're speaking to? For all of us, being insulted and humiliated is a real challenge. It doesn't matter what position you're in. Even the subordinate doesn't want to deal with it. But the person in a position of authority, all the more so. You're skating on thin ice. If you dare step up and insult or humiliate your boss, very dangerous move. He should realize that he's being tested in immuna, even if it looks like a person is being insulted or humiliated unjustly according to the laws of this world. Everything is perfectly just. The creator makes no mistakes. He has some type of account to settle with this person who's being humiliated, and he uses some individual to torment him. Like we've said in the past, this person who's standing in front of you and dishing out all kinds of insults and humiliating you is a stick in God's hand. Now I want to just real quick point out and clarify something here. I don't know if it needs to be clarified, but it just popped into my head, so I should say it anyways. If you're somebody who's chronically abused, if you're somebody who's chronically being insulted and humiliated by somebody who's close to you, you have a real problem. That's something that needs to be addressed immediately. I'm not talking about that. We're not talking about somebody who's being considered verbally abused by their loved one or somebody in their family. That's unacceptable on any level aside from the fact that it's illegal. I'm talking about the average person who says something, cracks a joke, makes a statement, puts you down, or maybe it's a one-off thing where it's a complete tirade. They come at you for a solid 15 minutes and they're just insult after insult and putting you down and it's completely out of character. That's most of the time what we're talking about over here, not chronic verbal abuse. Rather than returning the insult, a person needs to assess themselves and examine if they're guilty of any wrongdoing that might have incurred this insult or this humiliation. If the person who was wrong realizes that the insult was sent by God as a wake-up call, but you then add insult to injury, how do you do that? By lashing out, by throwing back at the person who insulted you, you don't realize what's really happening. You don't know that the creator is behind everything that's happening to you. You think that this person is in control of their faculties, you think that this person is in control of their mouth and that they have decided to come at you the way that they have. So even if a person does you harm, you have no right to repeat the transgression and to do harm back to them. There are umpteen examples. There are so many real life stories. They are shrewn throughout Jewish history and in all of our literature, modern and ancient, that you can read about stories of individuals who were humiliated, who were insulted, and who did the right thing. What's the right thing? How should you respond if you are insulted in a public form? If you're sitting in front of other people and somebody comes at you and starts to put you down to the point where you are red in the face. First of all, I want you to understand that the Torah tells us that if that happens to you, that the individual who did that to you has committed a sin that is on the same level as murder. They have effectively murdered you. Do you understand? It's a hard concept to understand. What are you talking about, Jesse? The guy just embarrassed me. Okay, I got red in the face. I was embarrassed in front of my peers, but I'll figure it out and I'll move on. No. Maybe that's your response, which is great. But in reality, the aggressor, the person who is guilty of doing that, has a very serious punishment coming to them equal to that of a murderer. Now, you and how you respond to it determines the level of reward. This is a game changer, or at least it can be. If you respond the wrong way and you return the insult and you one up them, and now you've embarrassed them more than they've embarrassed you, then you're just as guilty as they are. You're no better, just as guilty for committing the sin of murder by publicly shaming an individual. However, if you approach it in a way that is calm and cool and not responding in kind, and you absorb, you take in the insult and you keep your lips shut. You don't say one word. If you can do that and if you are successful at it, then my friends, the reward is exceptional. Just as your response was exceptional, because most people cannot respond in that way, so too the reward is exceptional. And I have heard story after story that demonstrate this clearly. People have told me firsthand accounts of this. In fact, I'm gonna make a suggestion. If you ever see a situation where an individual is being insulted, and it doesn't have to be a complete meltdown, it can be that somebody in a group of people having a simple conversation, and then all of a sudden somebody says something that was private or that was embarrassing and says it in public and causes that individual, another individual in that conversation, to become exceedingly embarrassed to the point where they blush and they have to leave the room. What you need to do is run after that person. You have to run after them. And whatever you're missing in this life, whatever you pray for every day from your creator, you should ask that this individual give you that blessing, that God should work through this individual to bless you for the things that you ask for. Why? Because that person who didn't respond, that's the critical component. As long as the person involved here does not respond, does not attack back, absorbs the punishment and moves on, then you should chase that individual and ask them for all the blessings that you want. Because the power that that person has right now to be able to change nature is unmatched. It is simply unmatched because humans have egos, because humans have a sense of self, a sense of self-worth. We all should have it. It's important. It's what keeps us relevant. And at the end of the day, if we're willing to swallow our pride and accept the physical punishment and not react, then we have busted nature. We have torn it to pieces. And because we have been successful at turning nature on its head, God gives you or that person the ability to change nature. So if your nature was, God forbid, not to have children, if your nature was not to be able to make a reasonable income and support your family, God forbid, you go to this individual and you beg and plead with them that they should pray for you to be able to have a good income or to be able to have children or to be able to get married. And your odds will increase exponentially more than that. And another reason why this is the case is because that individual who was just experienced the equivalent of death by being shamed publicly is now seen as being reborn. Understand? And there is nothing more pure and innocent and deserving of God's help than a fresh Nishama, a fresh soul, somebody who's just reborn with zero sin. You are put on that level where you now have a clean slate. And that's why you have all the power to be able to ask from God to be able to fulfill your needs or the needs of other people. I'm telling you, I have heard firsthand accounts, story after story of real occurrences that happen to real people every day, where people are embarrassed, they keep their mouths shut, they do the right thing, they absorb it because they recognize that it's coming from a loving creator, that this person was deserving of punishment already, and therefore God handpicked them to come and deliver this beatdown. I'm going to take it. Remember, I told you about the tool? Use the tool that I use. Recognize that, like I just said, this person is being punished. So instead of getting mad at them, feel sad for them, be upset for them. I'm so sad that this individual is facing such a punishment that God chose them to come at me. And that will help you to stay quiet. That will help you to react in the right way, which is really not to react. That's the message for today, my friends. I want to thank you guys all for tuning in as you do consistently and for your feedback and for liking the podcast and for sharing it and for commenting. A lot of people are really enjoying the podcast and the videos that I put out on current events. I try and look at the world through a Torah lens so that you can understand current events to not be happenstance and coincidence. Everything, everything is perfectly curated by our creator who loves us. God willing, we will experience that love through this Passover. Everybody should be safe. All Jewish communities around the world should be safe, and that the people, the perpetrators of terror around the world should be brought to an end. And all those governments and individuals who have microphones and who are supporting terror. I don't care what the reasons are, but as long as they're supporting terror, those people should go the way of the dinosaur. They should no longer be a thorn in the side of the Jewish nation, a nation that stands for everything that is good and true in this world. Have an amazing Passover, my friends. Chakzamach will speak after the holiday. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts, drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.