We know, Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) teaches us that one moment of Teshuvah (repentance) and good deeds is greater than the whole of Olam (world). The same statement right after says that one moment of pleasure in Olam is more than all the pleasures of this world. So I’d like to focus on the first statement. What does the first statement mean? That one moment of Teshuvah and ma'asim tovim (good deeds) is greater than the whole of Olam. What does that mean? Explain that. Let’s explain that for a moment.
The example I’d like to give is: take one of the NBA All-Stars. Who was he? MJ, they call him. Have you ever heard of MJ? Now the guy is worth billions. When he was playing in the NBA, to go Shacharit (morning prayer) he was worth only in the millions. His contract was a few million. Now, if you went and asked MJ right now—now he’s in the billions—you’d ask this NBA star, “I have a choice for you. Go back and make 30 million in the contract, or where you want to go. You are making about $2 to $3 billion.” What do you think he would choose? What do you think he would choose? What do you think? I’m asking you seriously. What do you think he would choose? Huh? What do you think?
I would tell you, honestly speaking, I think everybody here will agree. I mean, you guys didn’t agree, but everybody else would agree that he’d go back and play for the millions instead of the billions. This is what I think about it. What is he doing now? He’s walking around. Yeah, right. He’s popular. He’s very famous. Yeah. But when he’s in the game, he’s playing in the NBA. He’s playing basketball. He’s always like a million times better, a million times more. You’ll tell him right now. You ask him, I want to play back in the game. I want to play back in the game. That was his fun. That was his greatness.
So now, knowing this, let’s go back and explain. You know, if to 120—if to 120 years—you’re going to get your reward. Everybody’s going to get their reward, what they did. And they’re going to be in the trillions, gazillions. They’re going to be—forget about it. The reward is endless, endless, endless, endless, endless. Even for the smallest bits of money they did, they’re still going to get billions and trillions. It’s an endless type of thing. However, the challenge is not there anymore. The challenge is now.
The challenge is now that you have a Yetzer Hara (evil inclination), and sometimes a person is not able to do this and not able to do that. Or sometimes a person has to control himself for this, control himself for that, because he has a Yetzer Hara to overcome. Like it says, “A strong man is a person who—what?—actually can control his desires and emotions as much as he can.” He has a Yetzer Hara to overcome. But if to all that, you won’t have that Yetzer Hara anymore. If to Olam, all these things, we’re going to shecht (slaughter) the Yetzer Hara. There’s no Yetzer Hara anymore. It says in the end of the Yetzer Hara, every single morning, that at the end of times, we’re going to—what?—we’re going to shecht the Yetzer Hara. We’re going to go and do shechitah the Yetzer Hara. And it even says further how the Resha'im (wicked people) and the tzaddikim (righteous people) are going to look at the Yetzer Hara at that moment. But eventually, we’re going to shecht the Yetzer Hara. There’s not going to be a Yetzer Hara.
And that being said, that being said, it even says, “There are going to be days where people are going to say, ‘I don’t desire these days.’” What are these days? So one says, the other one is, “I don’t desire these days.” What does that mean? Do you know what the answer is? Very simple. When Mashiach (Messiah) comes, there’s no Yetzer Hara. The reward is, you don’t have that challenge anymore. There’s no challenge anymore. Of course you want Mashiach.
So somebody asked, “So why are we praying for Mashiach all the time?” It says you pray for Mashiach, not for you. You pray for Mashiach because, at the end of the day, there are so many Jews out there; they don’t pray for Mashiach. They don’t even know Hashem. But when Mashiach comes, every single person in the world is going to know Hashem, that He exists, that He’s the one, and there’s that. Yeah, you might know Borei Olam (Creator of the world), but what about the other millions of Jews who don’t know? We want to bring them back. Mashiach comes, everyone’s going to be back. That’s why we want Mashiach.
But you, you—now you have the challenge. Now it’s hard. Now it’s difficult. Now it’s—a lady, she’s not stewed, it’s so hot outside, she’s going to be stewed, not stewed. Yeah, it’s a challenge, but she’s going to do it. She’s going to succeed in it. A man—it’s very hard sometimes to sit and learn. He comes back: “Go sit and learn for an hour.” It might be difficult. He’ll do it anyway. He wakes up in the morning; he’ll do it anyway. You understand what I’m trying to say over here? Now’s the challenge.
But now, you feel good. You feel good every single time you break the Yetzer Hara; you feel good. You feel good. Somebody was telling me, “You don’t understand.” He says, “What happened?” He said—he said Friday was very hectic for him, and his wife asked him to go pick up something. “Oh, we’re missing whatever—onions.” I don’t know what was missing, whatever. And he’s thinking to himself, “Right now you’re telling me, I’m literally on my way to go to shul (synagogue), and now you’re telling me—it’s like five o’clock, I wanted to go to shul, and now you’re telling me...” He says, “No, I really need it.” He said, he controlled himself. He didn’t get angry. He brought his wife whatever he had with the onions, and he felt so good. He says, “Why?” He controlled himself. It’s a challenge that you’re able to overcome.
And this is now. This is now. And now we have the Yetzer Hara, and now we have the ability to complete that challenge. We’re basically like in that basketball game, the NBA. People are stopping us, defending this and that. Yeah, it’s 120 years of that game. But after that—120 years—the reward will be endless, endless, and endless. But now is the time to rise up to the challenges, any challenge that you have in your life.