Less Self-Analysis, More Action | Letter #8 of Thirty Letters in Thirty Days 5786

Uh, okay. We are live. Baruch Hashem. Wow, we've done a full week of 30 letters in 30 days. Our first class was last month's Shabbos. And then out with the Shabbos again. So, we've wrapped around the full uh cycle. 7-day cycle of creation. And now we're in the the second week. Amazing. And we thank everybody for joining us. It's very meaningful. All the people who join us live, all the people who watch on replay. Of course, uh live is on YouTube. Replays are on soulwords.org as well as all your favorite podcast platforms. And uh we'll do what we always do at the beginning of class. Remember, 30 letters in 30 days is a birthday present for Yud Aleph Nissan. The Rebbe's birthday. >> [snorts] >> And uh the Rebbe asked for gifts of Torah, also gifts of tzedakah. So, tzedakah we give over here, we like to use the Colel Chabad Pushka app because we like Colel Chabad and because it's fun. Where's Where's my app? Okay, here. >> [cough] >> And [clears throat] Oh, I earned a token. You can use tokens to recover missed days. Oh, cuz there's like a gamification of it. We have to have like a streak. Oh, I earned a token cuz of my tzedakah streak, 7 days in a row. Okay. That's cool. All right, I'm going to give a little more. Somebody commented on the live chat sometime last week that the way we give tzedakah to the Kollel Chabad pushka, that's their favorite part of the whole class. Ah, it is fun, yes. Okay. >> [snorts] >> I got to get some WD-40 for that chair. It's one of those fancy expensive chairs. It was supposed to help my back. I don't know how much it did. I'm going to make a bracha baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihyeh bidvaro. Mhm. Coffee. Supposed to drink hot water. New hot water on what's a Shabbos. >> [snorts] >> One of those Jewish things. Okay. I'm just typing into the chat. Okay. Want to learn a letter? >> [snorts] >> And you can look at the letter in the uh you can go to the you the description and then you click on PDF of the letter and it'll pull it right up. We called it less self-analysis, more action. That's just the title we gave it. It's uh from Igros Kodesh, chelek yud beis, volume 12. All of the letters this year are from volume 12. Letter 3,924. Okay. Baruch Hashem. Gimel Kislev taf shin tes zayin, Brooklyn. Chaim Mordechai. >> [cough] [clears throat] >> We had a letter Thursday night. One of our two letters was to a yeshiva bochur. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, you remember that? This is also to a yeshiva bochur. Just it blows my mind that the Lubavitcher Rebbe with everything that he was dealing with is responding to kids. I mean, let's just say it how how it is. Like some kid in Yeshiva is writing to the Rebbe with his personal issues and the Rebbe is responding thoughtfully. It's just amazing. Okay. And now we all get to benefit. Uh I don't know why it says so they. I think it should say michtavoy. I think it's missing a mem at the beginning. Mishlei Tishrei be'itay gilyadi. Uh your letter from the end of Tishrei day re- reached me in due time. Seems like there's a lag. I'm I'm just guessing it's possible he was writing from Eretz Yisrael and it was uh you know took time for the letter to get there. I don't know. >> [snorts] >> Vihinei afilu im timtza leima she tzadik bechol inyanim she kasev v'eidei'asom v'gam bi'yuram. Even if we were to say that you are correct in what you've written and your interpretation of the facts, I just want to stop a second and point this out. Even if we were to say you're correct regarding what you wrote, the inyanim, that means I guess the facts and bi'yuram means and their explanations or their interpretations. In other words, there's two different concepts here. The Rebbe's saying, "Okay. Let's say that the the facts that you've reported are accurate and let's say your explanation/interpretation of the facts are also accurate. I I I I Okay. I don't know if this comes across clearly if you're not familiar with the expression im timtza leima, but it's an expression that's used in Talmudic study all the time to say, "Even if I will grant your argument, meaning even if I will not refute the premise of your argument." However, parenthetically, I'm not 100% agreeing with your argument. I'm just saying I don't even have to disagree with your premise. I can even grant you your premise and still disagree with you. With your conclusion. Okay? So, that's I might be like um reading too much into it, but that's basically what it means. In other words, the Rebbe is saying I'm not 100% sure that even the facts are exactly the way you've reported them and your interpretation of the facts, cuz that's a separate thing, the facts and your interpretation of the facts. But even if I were to give you that, your conclusion is off. Okay, let me read the next words. Your conclusion, which is and the Rebbe says it clearly, your call it despondent mood and your feeling of hopelessness incorrect. Okay? You following this? I don't know exactly what this bocher wrote, but clearly his conclusion was that he's down on himself. If you read further in the letter, it has to do with his avodah, with his spiritual growth. He felt that he was not doing well in his spiritual growth. So, [snorts] the Rebbe is saying to him, "Let's say that the facts are like you reported. Let's say your interpretation of the facts are as you reported, but your bottom line, the conclusion that you come to as a result of the facts and the interpretation of the facts, that's for sure incorrect." What What bottom line? The bottom line that you're feeling bad about yourself. Okay. Why is that incorrect? Why is the conclusion incorrect? Let's read on. Now. Okay, the way I'm reading this is and especially when the above mentioned is not correct. Um Meaning you could read that your conclusion. In line with what is explained and the Rebbi then gives several sources in Chassidus. The first one, for whatever reason, I'm not sure, is not cited. Meaning the source is not cited. The Rebbi uses what is an obvious quote from Tanya. It's perek chof ches of Tanya, Likutei Moharan chelek aleph Tanya. But the Rebbi does not cite the source, but it's a direct quote. I mean you can even tell it's a quote because the Rebbi says "v'chulu". V'chulu means etc. There's a rest of the rest of the quote. Context, okay. Perek chof ches of Tanya, you can see behind me the Tanya map. Um Well, let me look here. Get ready for the squeaky chair. Here's chof ches right here. Says, "Ignoring sinful thoughts while engaged in divine service. If plagued by foreign thoughts while engaged in divine service, which means davening, ignore them. It is precisely because the godly soul is now active that the animal soul resists." Squeaky chair. Okay. Um >> [sighs] >> the context there is the Alter Rebbe since perek chof vov is dealing with different sources of depression, one source of depression could be that a person feels bad that when he goes to daven, he is beset with all types of distracting thoughts. So, the Alter Rebbe tells him, "You're wrong to be upset because the truth is you think that it's a sign that your davening is worthless. To the contrary, it's a sign that your davening is working. Why? Because that's the nature of people who battle that when one pushes, the other pushes back. So, the fact that dafka when you're davening, all of a sudden you have machshavos zaros, stray thoughts, that's actually a healthy sign that your davening is working and that your nefesh habahamis is feeling threatened and therefore it's resisting." The people who think >> [snorts] >> that it's a sign that the having stray thoughts is a sign that their davening is worthless would be correct if it were one soul, the same soul, one in the same soul that davens and one in the same soul that thinks those stray thoughts. Then you'd be right because look at that soul. What kind of a weird mixed-up soul is it? However, that is not the case. It is actually two distinct souls, one that is davening and the other that's bringing in the stray thoughts and they're pushing on each other and of course when one pushes, the other pushes back. Okay, basic Tanya. That's the first source that the Rebbe brings. And as I said, clearly perek chof ches of of Tanya, but the Rebbe doesn't cite the source. Urei eyn gam kein, also see Iggeres Hakodesh seif chof alef seif siman chof heh. See the end of uh letter 25 from Iggeres Hakodesh. That's a long letter, complicated letter, but at the end it speaks about the idea of the Shekinah manifesting itself in klippa as in it's specifically in the form of a wicked heathen. That's how it's translated in the uh English Tanya, who tries to distract someone while they're davening. From this, by the way, it does seem that the bochur's complaint had to do with not being able to concentrate while he's davening, just because that's what it's talking about in chof chof of Likutei Amarim, that's what it's talking about in chof hey of Iggeres Hakodesh. Well, the whole the whole the whole Okay. Perek chof chof of Likutei Amarim is all about focusing while you're davening and not feeling bad if you get distracted for the above mentioned above mentioned explanation. Chof hey of Iggeres Hakodesh is about a lot of different things. Um like I said, it's a long letter and it covers a lot. But, at the end over there, that section does say that when you are experiencing If you were to experience this uh distraction, you should understand that really it's Hashem acting through this agent, this emissary, and uh really it's only for your benefit, so that you'll uh ignore it and daven harder. But, don't engage with it. Similar themes as to what's uh described in chof chof of uh Likutei Amarim. Okay. And also that Rebbe says Tehillat Ha'aretz u'Mishlei u'Shir HaMa'alot u'Gematria. Okay, so that's a ma'amar of the Alter Rebbe in Tehillat Ha'aretz. Shir HaMa'alot b'Shuva Hashem, right? We said that before benching on Shabbos and Yom Tov and days when we don't say tachnun. Um that when mashiach comes we will we will have been as dreamers. And the altar of explains why will we say that our experience of galas was dream like? Why will we after the ghoul that comes why will we look back and say that our experience while we were in galas was dream like? So the altar of proceeds to explain that in a dream you can have opposites that don't make sense coexist. Things that can't happen in uh in real life. And you wouldn't even think of them. I mean unless somebody challenge you specifically to think of bizarre things that are non sequiturs, but you wouldn't even think of these things while you are awake. But when you're dreaming it it's just um it's [clears throat] part of the course. It's a regular occurrence in a dream. And the reason is the altar of actually describes the mechanics of it. He's And this is all a martial. It's not the mind is not about dreams. The mind is about galas and ghoul that but dream is the dreams are the are the martial here. That what happens is that the the kayakh amadama the the imaginative power becomes divorced from the from cycle from from logic which normally limits what you're going to imagine. And therefore you can imagine things that make no sense logically. At any rate so what's what's the nimshal? Meaning the metaphor is to describe something. What's it to describe? It's to describe the fact that in galas we can have this weird nonsensical experience where seemingly we're like completely confused. One moment we're davening and and we seemingly mean it. We're into our davening. We're we're thinking about Hashem. And like the next minute we're running after all types of fleeting physical things that are totally irrelevant. Like, what's going on here? Ah, so that's why galus is dream-like because um two things that don't really go together end up going together, even though they don't >> [laughter] >> it's it's not it's nonsensical that they go together. And that's what's dream-like about about galus, that we can be in a situation. I mean, in some ways that's the definition of galus. Galus isn't just the socio-political uh displacement of our people. It's an It's It's I mean, that's one of the symptoms of it. But the the primary galus like that I ever said is the the galus p'nimi, the internal galus, the metaphysical condition of our uh operating system having uh some uh seriously corrupted files. And uh geulah is clearing that all out thinking straight again, which is why uh personal geulah is something that we can pursue and must pursue even before the advent of Mashiach in the on on the on the world stage. At any rate, the maamar that that I was citing is about this condition where a person can sort of flip-flop in this incongruous way between davening and thinking about other things. And you should just understand that that's one of the chief symptoms of of galus. Okay, so that's the third source, right? So, the first one is chof kas in Likutei Amarim, which the Rebbe doesn't give the source, but maybe it's so clear that the Rebbe assumes that he knows it. The Rebbe gives the quote, the words. The other source is chof hey of uh of uh Igros Kodesh. And the third is uh Divrei Ma'amarim Shir HaMa'alos from Torah Or. All three sources from the Alter Rebbe, by the way. They're all from the Alter Rebbe. Uvechamo mekomos, and many places. Meaning there are many other places that also talk about this. Okay. Someone says in the chat, "Where can I find a copy of the map of Tanya? It's currently unavailable on Amazon." >> [snorts] >> I don't know. Talk to Kohos. Kohos is the only one who can print the Tanya map. And [snorts] it goes out of print and they make print and then print more. Talk to Kohos. Ask him to print more. >> [snorts] >> Okay. Um According to everything you've written to me, it is clear that the opposite is true. Meaning your conclusion is the opposite of the truth. Let me flip the page. Your situation should actually rouse you to be more um dedicated. [snorts] Meaning it shouldn't discourage you. It should actually encourage you. For the you know, as we explained what those sources say. It means it doesn't mean that what you're doing isn't working. To the contrary, it means that you are making progress and that's why it's meeting resistance. So, this shouldn't discourage you. To the contrary, it should encourage you. So, going back to the beginning of the the the letter that I was letter that I was saying. Even if I'm going to agree with your report of the facts. And even I'm going to agree with your interpretation of the facts. I cannot agree with your conclusion cuz your conclusion is that you should feel discouraged. But I'm telling you that everything you've told me to the contrary should make you encouraged because you should realize that what you're doing is working. >> However, it is known that in order to see it through, to actually, you know, you should be encouraged to continue the avodah, but to continue it and to reach your goal is going to require divine assistance, and more divine assistance than in other matters. We need divine assistance for everything, but especially when it comes to avodah and this type of avodah. We need a lot of siyata d'Shmaya. Okay, so no problem. How am I going to get that divine assistance? The Rebbe is even going to tell you how to do that. What I will eat is that the the advice for this, how to get that extra boost that you're going to need in order to continue on the path that you're on, which is a good path and you're successful, you just got to keep keep going, and how you're going to get that boost of siyata d'Shmaya min isina s- stakla zulas by giving tzedakah to someone else. What does tzedakah mean? I mean, a yeshiva bachur, how much money does he have? Doesn't mean money. Perush, the explanation, gam mikarvin milama'ala gam oiseh. You should be mikarev another Jew to Torah and to mitzvahs and to pnimiyus haTorah, and then from above you will have a reciprocal being drawn near. Like if you draw someone else near, so then that will trigger that from on high you will be drawn near to Hashem. And presumably this even means other bachurim in yeshiva. I mean, who else is this person interacting with? Could mean mivtza'im, but you know, this is 1956, so I'm not sure how much that's referring to that. And your back and forth, chakla v'atarya means like in Talmudic argument where there's the the pros and the cons and the argument and the counter-argument and the refutation and the counter-refutation. So, the fact that you're going back and forth in your mind getting between the mitzvahs is actually causing you to have a deficiency in Torah mitzvahs. It's not just a waste of time. But on the other much worse, has it it's actually damaging. You know, there's a difference between um non-productive and counter-productive. A waste of time is non-productive. It's very sad, but it's it's it's you're not accomplishing anything, but you're not doing any harm. The Rebbe is saying this is actually doing harm. Okay? And it's a very interesting concept because in this we do have a concept called "cheshbon hanefesh" or "cheshbon tzaddik" which means uh a soul account, a moral inventory, where you're supposed to take stock and you're supposed to think about what you're doing, not just what you're doing wrong, you know, also what you're doing right. >> [snorts] >> But you're supposed to take a look at yourself. There is such a concept in this. But there's also an approach and the Rebbe speaks about this in many places that you know, sometimes just too much analysis, I guess what do they call it? The analysis paralysis. Too much self-reflection is actually counter-productive. Not just unproductive, but counter-productive. It's actually setting you back. It's causing damage, God forbid. There's a famous there's a memoir like "Shakayla" from from the Rebbe about um >> [snorts] >> talks about to using all of your days, using all of your time productively, and there's a vort there about the famous Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai that as he's passing away, he says, "I see I see two paths in front of me, one to Gan Eden and one to Gehenna. V'eini day'a, I don't know eizeh derech malchinan I say, I don't know which way they're bringing me." And uh the commentaries spend much uh time in now analyzing what this could mean, why a great tzaddik, great leader of the Jewish people like Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, would have any doubt if he were uh headed this way or that way. The Rebbe says a very novel interpretation. I haven't seen this anywhere else. In fact, when I've ever whenever I've shared this vort outside of Chabad circles, uh >> [laughter] >> I found it to be surprisingly triggering. I didn't know I I I didn't think it was fighting words, but I I actually found people get upset when I when I share this. Is that um >> [snorts] >> he didn't know which way he was going because he was so busy serving Hashem his entire life, he hadn't yet taken stock. Like a person who runs a business, you don't take inventory in the middle of the business day or you're interrupting business. You know, you take inventory when you're closed, not when you're open, not when there's customers. So, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov was so busy serving Hashem his whole life, he actually hadn't taken inventory yet. At the very end of his life, he was like, "Oh, you know what? Maybe I should do a little retrospective over here, take a little stock." And he cuz he had he hadn't done it yet, and so he wasn't sure yet. He wasn't sure what the balance sheet was going to show. He didn't know which which direction they were going to take him. >> [snorts] >> Uh Yeah, so the Rebbe tells this bachur, "Please stop with the the self-analysis." Which is why we called this letter self-analysis, less self-analysis, more action. Okay. Yachriach et atzmo lishmo, sidrei yeshiva lashpiya gam al kol chavereiha baze. You should force yourself I like that word. You should force yourself to keep the the schedule, the learning schedule of the yeshiva, and influence your friends to do the same. You notice that a lot with the Rebbe. Like somebody who's weak in a certain area and the Rebbe doesn't just tell them to become adequate in that area, but actually encourages them to become the the the role model. We had a we had a similar um etzah. And the Rebbe giving some giving similar advice in a in another letter we learned this year. >> [snorts] >> I you did diborei through your speech but I just but more so I you did she dugma chaya through being a living example. Um you should you live be a living example of how a tamim the tamim means a student of Tim Tim means Lubavitcher yeshivas. Uh you should be a living example of how a tamim should conduct himself and then again uh strengthen your efforts in drawing others close as well. Okay. But so the konis bashaka vetaria betainus mainus. And when the yetzer hara it's very interesting the Rebbe doesn't say if the Rebbe says when. When the yetzer hara will come to you and try to draw you into debate. >> [snorts] >> It's almost like the Rebbe saying like get ready because the yetzer hara will try to draw you into debate and the Rebbe just told stop with the shaka vetaria. Stop with the back and forth analysis. It's not productive and in and in and in fact it's setting [snorts] you back. It's causing damage God forbid. So when the yetzer hara comes to you and says, "Hey hey hey hey let's analyze a little cuz it seems so innocuous, right? It's not the yetzer hara coming and saying let's sin cuz then you would know to tell him, "Hey, get out of here." No, the yetzer hara comes to you and says, "Hey, let's do a little cheshbon hanefesh. Let's do a little uh inventory. Let's just see what we could be doing better. Let's just analyze a little bit. Seems very uh benign, right? So, the Rebbe said, "Do not take the bait. Do not take the bait. Okay. Um So, when the yetzer hara comes to you and tries to draw you back into this analysis, he said, "Do not enter into it with him." And the Rebbe gives him a script what he can tell the yetzer hara. "Tell the yetzer hara, I'm sorry. I am an eved." An eved means a servant. "I'm an eved. Please, don't I don't know. I just work here. Right? Literally, I'm just the eved. I'm just the servant. Please, do not ask me questions. I don't get paid to think. Please, go away. Leave me alone. I'm just a servant." Even an eved Kena'ani who is happy to be um V'afkeira means uh in his uh How do they translate it over here? By nature prefers to live without restraint. Yeah. Okay, let me explain. This is a common expression. An eved An eved Kena'ani. Okay, let's back up. There's eved Kena'ani and eved Ivri. Hebrew man servant, Canaanite man servant. Those are literal designations in Halacha. They're also in Chassidus two levels of avodas Hashem. Eved milashon avoda. So, and the eved Ivri is one who serves Hashem with more gishmak. He actually appreciates, he's happy to serve the master. Eved Kena'ani means he's forcing himself. So, it's a lower level. In some ways it's a higher level also, but it it he's forcing himself. And if he had his druthers, he would actually, you know, he would he would he he would like to not serve cuz he doesn't value the the service unto itself, but he has to force himself to do it. So, the Rebbe says, "Even if you would be a a lower level servant, every Kanani who is actually happy to be lawless, without restraint, not having rules, and you're just forced, compelled beyond your will to have to work. Okay, so be it. Even if it's the lower level of it. But, you tell the Sahara, "I can't talk to you. I am the avid over here. I'm just the servant." Yeah. He not. I don't have time for this. I only have time to serve my master. I'm not a free man. I'm sorry. It's not my It is not my prerogative here to have this discussion with you. I'm just I'm I'm busy. I'm When am I going to be free? Never. I'm I'm always busy. I've never not busy. I My job is I serve the master. I can't talk with you. I'm sorry. Like when the telemarketer call. Who makes the decisions about your long distance phone company? Not me. Well, when will they be here? I don't know. It's not me. >> [laughter] >> The ain't no You can see when's the last time I picked up a phone that I don't know. And I don't have free time to even discuss and evaluate my service of the master. I'm so busy serving the master, I don't have time to analyze my service of the master. Similar to what I was saying before about that I was worried about Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. He was so busy serving Hashem, he didn't have time to analyze his service of Hashem. Let's keep going. >> [sighs and gasps] >> Someone says in the chat, "Get out of the debating society." That's right. Okay, I love this part. This is the last part of the letter. I I laughed out loud. I A L O L'd. I actually laughed out loud when I read this. Regarding what you asked, how to set up your learning and your schedule. Okay, I'm just going to pause. You guys want to guess? You just want to guess? Maybe write in the chat what you're going to This Yeshiva bocher writes to the Rebbe and he complains he's having distracting thoughts during davening. He's feeling bad about it. He feels like his his whole service of Hashem is worthless. Okay, and then he says, "By the way, how should I What should I be learning and how should I set up my schedule? How should I set up my limud and my zman? My learning and my schedule? You want to just guess what the Rebbe tells him? Okay, I'm going to read it to you. Let's see. You are presently found in the Yeshiva called Tomchei Temimim. That shouldn't just be physical, like you're physically there. That's your physical location. You should actually be there, like present. You know, like we say today, like to be fully present. Like don't just physically be located there, but really be there be there. >> Right. So, it comes he says in Yiddish, comes out you should just listen to whatever the teachers tell you TO DO. [laughter] THIS BACHUR is writing the Rebbe, what should I be learning? How should I spend my time? What schedule should I give myself? And the Rebbe was like, you're in Temime. There's a say there over there, whatever Whatever the Yeshiva's learning, that's what you should be learning. Okay. I I lol'd. with blessings for good news in all of the above mentioned. Oh, I I love this part. And it's already known what the sages of blessed memory have said, "Kol de pashut maleh tfei." All right. Literally, it means the straighter is better. It's a reference to a Gemara in Rosh Hashanah. There's a machlokes. Are different types of shofars. You know, a shofar like a ram's horn. So, should it be a straighter one or a more curvy one? So, it's a machlokes, like a lot of things. Um but he he here's the difference. One tanna says it should be a straighter one on Rosh Hashanah and a curvier one on on Yom Kippur. And one says the opposite. It should be curvier on Rosh Hashanah and straighter on Yom Kippur. And curved represents sub doing yourself, like bending yourself to the will of Hashem. Straight represents straightening out your dos, straightening out your mind. Uh clearing out your your head to serve Hashem. Okay. So, the Rebbe quotes this or or paraphrases or uses this language here, "Kol de pashut maleh tfei." Whatever is Pashut means straight, but also pashut means simple. Pashut is simple. So, whatever's more simple, or if you want to have an English word that uses straight to mean simple, you could say straightforward, and that's what the translators here used in our translation. Good job, translation team. Um whatever is more straightforward is the better path. Meaning, don't complicate it. I was reading this, and I was thinking to myself, I know uh today a lot of people who are into uh logic, they use this term Occam's razor. The simplest explanation is the best explanation. Just from logical uh from a logical perspective, that whatever model has the least moving parts, whatever has the least amount of variables and and different factors, that's probably the best explanation for a phenomenon. >> [snorts] >> I was thinking to myself, like l'havdil, this is like the Occam's razor of Avodah. Like, what Avodah, what path to serving Hashem is the preferable one? Whatever's the simplest. Whatever [laughter] is the simplest. I was just talking to a dear friend of mine tonight, um Rabbi Dr. uh David Schachter, who's uh great friend of our family, and uh keeps me healthier. Tries to, at least. Um with Hashem's help. And I was just talking to him tonight, and he told me he heard from Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, olav hashalom, um years ago he told him, "David, if you're not if if if you're if you're if you're finding it difficult to serve Hashem, you're probably not doing it right." >> [laughter] >> Meaning, serving Hashem is fairly straightforward. We complicate it. We make it confusing. But, Avodah is fairly straightforward. And that's what the whole theme here is. When the yetzer hara will come to you in a guise of trying to improve your Avoydha, but really he's just complicating things and distracting you, you got to tell him, "Leave me alone. I'm an avid. I don't have time for these confusing discussions. I have to just keep it simple and focus on serving the master." Okay. >> [snorts] >> All right. That's been fun. We'll see you tomorrow night. I'm at the Hashem, 10:00 p.m. approximately, thereabouts. And uh yeah. See you tomorrow night. >> [snorts]