Why Torah Is Essential for Making the Right Choices

Can't survive if you're a sheep. Can't survive. Somebody's going to influence you. Okay, it may not be the atheist, it may not be the missionary, may not be the the Ahmed, it may not be Hamas, but guess what? It could be your best friend that's simply secular and he goes to shul a couple of times a year, but he's a nice guy and he gives a lot of tzedakah. It could just be that. It doesn't have to be like you become a murderer. You could just simply decide to be a nice guy, but guess what? You don't even know what nice is. You don't know what nice is. Why? If you don't have Torah, you don't know what nice is. And you're only going to realize it later on after you've made enough mistakes where you realize, well, I wasn't so nice. I was nice to my employees, but I was hurting my customers in the process. I was nice to my customers, but I was cheating the government. I was nice to my customers and the government, but I didn't pay the rent. I was nice to this one, this one, and that one, but I did this There's always going to be somewhere. Why? If you don't have Torah as your instruction set, at some point that nice becomes not nice. Why? Cuz there is a bias. It's an internal bias all of us has. So, the first thing is, can't be a sheep. You have to aim to be a shepherd. You have to be self-sustaining. You have to have a rabbi to direct you how to be, what to be, when to be, but you have to aim to be strong enough and not be influenced by everybody