Chovos Halevavos- The Duties of the Heart (Rabbi Guy Matalon) (Jewish Understanding) (Series Part23)

okay here we go so we know that the intellect is out of this world it is something that's coming from the spiritual realm and is housed contained some extent in this realm the ne brings the teachings of the Z that says that that the body is the shoe of the N okay so just think about that idea a little bit just like the shoe is not very important to your body right it's only the bottom most part of the lowest part of you goes into the shoe so the Nish your Nish the part of it that's in you is your body is the shoe for that part of the Nish okay yes what's the smile for that there's a malim that when if we learn Ruth around you will see that the Mal talks about that whole that whole point of has nothing to do with was the deceased and preparing a vessel for the the in the it's a to so since our n which is represented in Us by the intellect the SE is out of this world it's spiritual it requires spiritual sustenance it's requiring continuous consistent feeding and that is Torah and mitz all those things increase the light and therefore provide sustenance to our nisham now there's interesting that he says that the TAA is doesn't stop working day and night your desires never end so whether it's your desire for food or desire for sleep or desire for hot shower ruining the showers for the entire Yeshiva and the SE though the Tia sometimes tries to use your intellect to try to fulfill the desires of the body which that is a real problem for us that the Tas our desire all of a sudden take over our mind and we forget that there are such things in the Torah Thou shalt not steal and hence we see slice of pizza that a b saved so he could have a snack he could learn more and yet you eat it without any regard because the body takes over and the mind just say okay we'll figure it out yeah the shoe protects the per the shoe protects the foot but the shoe also can contaminate the foot that's the so he wanted to do one heage and I turned the head that's Dan how am I doing today I'm doing okay you know we have mishmar tonight Rabbi ziskin is coming you should be there he's uh I think he's English I don't know yes you've met him before you've been you've been here for six seven years [Laughter] feels like it huh yeah should have seen him when he came in just like Hood zest of life you know we sucked that out of [Laughter] you there's this idea that you know what Yesa is supposed to do is to turn you into a match you ever seen a match it's a piece of wood with a little red on top right so you light the match and then it turns all black right and starts bending over it's because you're sitting all day like this that's then that's what we're going to do to you we're trying to light the fire of Torah in you so then your shama should glow so when you go back to the Philippines you can Shine the Light and drive the darkness but just remember whenever you're going to expand the boundaries of Holiness you're going to have you're going to have catore just like yov ainu yov ainu as long as he sat in the Bas medish in his oil learning Torah everything was fine he got the BR that's it he has problem he had to run away from home had problems with Lan with as with with with Y so it's not easy to be aik so the body works as follows that as you use your muscles as you use your body the body gets stronger and stronger correct and if you don't use your muscles and the heaviest thing that you lift is a gar for five months then there's atrophy of your muscles right big mic am I using the correct terms yes or no am I correct and then you have to get a massage you do you have to loosen things up and then start working out now he says since the Body Works in this way desires also work in this way this is a the more I think about it as I'm reading this the more I I recognize that I see something here that I never thought about what you saying is the body if you don't use the body the muscles get weaker and weaker and weaker and if you use the body then it gets stronger and stronger and stronger Tia's desires work the same way you fulfill the desires they keep growing and get stronger and stronger and stronger you don't feed them they get weaker and weaker and weak I don't want to give you examples because some of you know what examples can come up on these things but it's a very important principle that in order to break the hold of of tas's Jeremy on you all you have to do is just not fulfill them so if you don't fulfill them for 10 minutes an hour two hours a day 10 days 40 days then all of a sudden it's not so much of an issue anymore yeah then you can actually walk by a pizza and not think about I'm going to steal it and eat it and so if you want to ever get out of the cycle of having desires and then sinning and then having the desire again and you're wondering like what is going on here the whole point is that when you feed it's like your body you keep making the desires stronger and stronger and stronger and the only way to break that is to withhold that fulfillment of that desire and the intellect he says also if you don't use it for the nature the purposes that it was given to you it also gets weaker which means the Converse also is true when you use it for what it was intended then your intellect gets stronger did God create you in order to just play Candy Crush is that the purpose of your existence to play video games and that's what you use your brain for or is it to learn the Torah learn gamor and that's why in the beginning it's very hard because our mind doesn't think this way we're not used to this sort of dialectic back and forth with a statement and an akashia and a bunch of questions and then answers and we we're not used to that we like to watch like 5 minutes 5c videos Snippets sound bites very quick anything that's too long nobody wants to hear nobody wants to but you have to get your mind to get used to hold cup keep in your mind a whole om of gar know every step without looking at at it gar says it's like this then it's like this then it's like that then it's like this and then you have this and you have that and this and Rashi says like this T says like this and then you add another layer and another layer and all of a sudden you see that your mind is capable of keeping tremendous amount of information yes sir obvious a of C Pebbles a what C pebbl cereal cereal how know if Day first you have to show up for learning for to make it Gish for the day if you don't show up for learn right that's this that's how you understand that's how you have to look at it how do you know how much you can have of that bereal BS you could have that you're not making it into a but you're do it for the of good I don't know that isn't that depending on the person I don't need Cocoa Puffs wait a second we got to hear this yes what are you sorry for oh you're sorry for being late can you sit and uh relax for a little bit we taping this so you know you have to watch the naughty questions but you can ask any questions in this year okay so I know that's their fault they didn't tell you it starts at 3 so guys you couldn't you can't do that to him Jordan right okay so this is Jordan he's joining M for a while so take during the break if you could all say shalom Alim to him see if he needs anything no massages and if they tell you that there's such thing as a shower buddy there isn't and you're not an our dorm so you don't have to worry about the shower with the silicone that was ruin it it's not his fault you have to go to the poor worker that worked on his knees to put silicone so that it'll he was at the C he was at the how was the Cod very still there the stones were there all right no not me 12 the SE requires stimuli your intellect wants to be [Music] stimulate the question is what are you going to give it you can either give it nourish kite nonsense fill it with all sorts of silly information that only on Jeopardy people know or do you fill it with Ms with a Torah and learning Torah isn't easy it's a challenge you have to learn two new languages you have to learn Aramaic you have to learn Hebrew you have to learn Concepts that you've never been around right nobody really thinks about Shen on a daily basis Hees what K get all these sort of terms and they all have set meanings and you seem to be the only one not knowing what's going on so that's the challenge of learning Torah this ISS that the Torah when you use your intellect to learn Torah your intellect gets stronger and pure and starts to shine and he says he says he says that it distances from you ignorance that is trying to take over your neish and when it does Al it blocks you from seeing the truth for what it really is and that probably is the scariest thing that could happen to us that because of the misuse of the only tool that we have to connect to God wrap it out come on take the candy enough confing no like I hear that you know the rustling just get it over with no another another yeah rap it a yell yell we're not continuing until this candy is in your mouth after a br what do you mean no you're not going to make a br now oh good you're let's go amen don't no don't e the paper I don't know maybe in aaran they have edible paper I don't know here they don't yeah good throw it on the ground good I'm kidding I'm kidding but Jordan This Could Be the scariest thing that because you misused your intellect you did not sharpen it and use it for what was in intended and you filled it with nonsense that that nonsense took over your mind and now you cannot see things for the truth you can't recognize what truth is you get confused you okay what what they look really great I know but you look great you smell great too thank you for what are you sniffing him [Laughter] for yes sir questioning how do you know what truth no no no no there isn't one truth for me and one truth for you this is not we're not in America okay this is not everything is relative we know that the MS of the Torah the MS of the Torah the MS of the Torah is not dependent on what I think or what you think and Cal we're not talking about serial I already answered your serial question your serial question is depends on how much cereal you actually need how do you know the answer to that how do you know go to nutritionist ask her how many calories should i e be eating a day what food four food groups should those be she will give you a plan and then she says one bowl of cereal for a month because probably not healthy for you then that's what you eat if she says you could have seven bowls per month so you figure you want to have them all in one day I don't you know that's not what I I'm not an interest inist right how many bowls of cereal can somebody have for it I don't know if a person is TAA of food let's say if that's your question and somebody's worried that this drive for food is going to get out of hand that requires some work that's for sure that's for sure that is you have to pay attention to how much are your decision making is shaped by food like somebody told me yesterday Rabbi you know you should have eaten the food with us at 7 when they brought the food there was so much food but I had to go somewhere else why would I stay so if I made a decision to stay only for the food then it's sort of like that's my primary purpose not really shouldn't be if you're thinking of what are you going to do for shabas oh I'm going to go this place because they have great food not because you like the vibe or there's good Torah right then there's an issue to ask yourself I only go for the booze whatever you know they have a great collection of whiskey ask so what's going on over here by the way you all have uh plans for shabas because there's no food in Yesa then you have plans okay good where you going wow how did you get that invitation good for you very nice Andrew where are you going okay don't wa too long because then you'll be over here by yourself where are you going Yan where are you guys going you're just going with him okay good wear a tinfoil hat under your keepa okay everybody else is taken care of this week I don't this week I thought the plan was yes uh the plan was to invite a few of you um but yesterday my wife became very ill and so she's still not I don't I tried to get her to cancel all our guests but she said she can't she doesn't want to do that so we're having some guests and uh have to see it means I have a lot of work to do on chabas so amen amen amen hopefully it'll work itself out so doing stupid things doing filling your head with things that are just ignorant essentially wraps your mind with silly things and then you get confused you doubt what the truth is you don't understand how this world works and essentially you've become captive to your desires and if you don't invest in learning in pushing your intellect till it hurts and sometimes when you learn really intensely your mind's that's it you know it says like shut down just I got to walk away I can't I can't read anymore so okay good you pushed yourself that's what he's talking about here because it [Music] says right the Torah is so pure so true so perfected that it restores your neish to its pristine state before you filled it with all this garbage there are 2,711 DS of the Babylonian T fill your head with those what how many what what's the period of time eight it's 7.5 or6 um it's doable not I you I don't think I would recommend for you for your level because it's hard it's hard and it's a sort of commitment that you have to do every day you can't really take a day off because imagine you miss one day you're in a hole for eight which means the next day you have 16 to make you missed two days let's say you didn't feel well or you know y Kipper or R so you have three days when you're learning that's 24 DS that you have to make up somehow yeah if you do two DS a day then it's about three and a half years if you do one da a day that's seven and a half years what long so long well the but I I don't think you should start counting in terms of numbers and the point is to just learn and get to a point where it's not a chore that it's not something that oh I got to learn today who is this so you know I'm trying the eight day eight DS a day [Music] so I'm in so according to my calculation I'm about 60 no about 45 days from finishing so it's a little earli of schedule but it's it looks like it's about that it's probably going to be 60 60 days but it's it's not easy you have to have set times where you sit and you you know when student texts you and asks you questions you say I can't answer your questions right now I'm learning no I don't do toes but it's very fast it's very fast it's um but this is my I'm on my third time finishing sh so it's not so you know I've seen all these M before and sugas repeat themselves so some sugas just go really really fast because because I know them from this m and that I've seen it so just let's go oh yeah it's like this like this like this like this this so you can go you can move and you get familiar you're spending a lot of time with with the tan and I told somebody somebody was telling me about somebody inov I said to him I'm sorry you know I don't know who these people are because I come to I leave ROV at 7 o' Buzz I get toam I'm in Yesa until I don't know whatever time it is when people see me here in the evening they say Rabbi what are you doing here it's so late like right yeah sure so and then when I get home you know and so I don't really know the PE I'm only there for shabas where I go to my Sho I know some people in my CH I don't know everybody so he was telling me and I said listen I have to tell you I feel a lot closer to AB and and and rebi andun than Papa than the people that you're talking I spend more time with them with them every day than with people in the you know because it's a few hours every day that I'm you know spending time and I have the opportunity to teach so you know I'm doing that and as you know I learn M chabas every day so that I have that then the eight do so for your level I don't I wouldn't recommend it but probably soon you should you should start doing a Dai at least get used to learning a Dai style which means that you can do a DA in an hour obviously you're not doing it by yourself sitting there you're listening to a Shear that is going through so you're listening to she there are wonderful sheer online that you could essentially just follow along and you're learning the da so you know now they're in Babas they're going to start soon another you might want to try or try on just get used to that speed that that you know that in about an hour you're going to finish one da and it gives you a sense of this is where you know this is what I'm and you'll find out it's too fast for me it's I didn't really catch this but you can always go back until you and then you start feeling comfortable and then all of a sudden you just another do and another do and another do and then you know you're like Saxy yes you should also maybe try it I didn't do a special for Shas so I saved three weeks the shabas is 156 D so that's three weeks that I put in reserve so on TSH for example I didn't I didn't learn to CU also so I didn't and I didn't make it up at night I was just and on rash the two days and Y Kipper I didn't either so I and then I was sick for two days I think that that's the total I borrowed maximum six days in total from the three weeks that I banked so but I am ahead of schedule I know that um but chabas is is a it's a different different different M for me you know how many I didn't I don't count I don't know I don't know what do you do extra time what do you mean I don't understand supposed to finish it in so I have to decide if I'm going to take it again to do it one more time or if I'm going to say okay I've done that I want to do try something else I don't know what SOI I'm stuck in Milla I've done all the M up to M Milla you doing no I I said I stopped I now I'm not doing because I started this project so I put the but I've I did go I did learn all the up to in the so but I don't know why that's in the point is what he's saying not what I'm doing it's not about me yes what's the difference between learn the language is different the it's a different dialect of Aramaic it's more condensed the Babylonian talmud goes into detail and gives you a lot more information thei many times asks a question and doesn't answer it much more than the uh the the Babylonian tal B um it's deals with M that we don't really we're not familiar with because of the B all of Zim and Zim you only have a on bras then you start Mo but uh you know you have all on and Myers you have all those M that you have so um they're just different no there's no rash and tus on that you have you have commentaries by sages that are much later than rash the fact that there's the people know is [Music] a because only one copy of the Yami survived in the ancient world and went and somehow ended up in B in the ishot over there only one copy and from that copy we don't find that many manuscripts of the Yami also so I I I don't remember when they printed the first Yi if they printed because they only had one manuscript it's some very crazy story um I just don't remember those the details but the having thei is is is is very rare because we didn't have we didn't it's what you know the the majority of the Torah learning was done in the Babylonian yes and they had the B and there were some of the who said that you shouldn't rely on thei whenever there's a between the B Andi go like the B but when we see in the rambam and also Rashi and to they bring and the so okay so I'll answer that in just one second okay let's turn this off because it has nothing to do with