Letters of the Rebbe: "A Plea for Good News" (Class 21)

a and uh welcome too I think we're heading into our third week of 30 letters in 30 days today wases don't forget the NSI um and that means that we are 11 days from yudala Nissen so uh I want to encourage everybody who's been enjoying 30 letters in 30 days whether you were with us from the very first year or you joined somewhere along the way let's uh try to add in the peum publicizing letting people know about this incredible H if you're enjoying this if this has meant something to you please tell your friends uh let them know about what we're doing and uh it's a good time now it's it's a good good time to push all right let's look at tonight's letter letter number 21n shom the 11th they have last letter we read was from yudat the previous day this is now the day after yudat Shalom meaning the Reb is writing to a man and from the context of the letter it seems that this uh this is Aid who is giving classes I don't know if this is aah or if this is an asan or somebody who works in a Yeshiva it's it's really not 100% clear but it seems that this person is uh well it's pretty clear they're teaching as will be evident from the letter and uh that's about what I can surmise I'm GNA just silence that after a very long silence see we've had this before where the rebba is mentioning to people that that uh he has not heard from them in a long time and wondering what is up with that why the silence why is it taking you so long to write to me now we've had this before where the rebba says you need to write more often tonight's letter actually and I want to warn everybody is a little bit intense as far as one of the implications of not writing often enough and I'm going to give you fair warning that it could it can read a bit harsh and maybe even a little bit scary but we're going to read through it we're going to talk about it and uh it's going to be okay let's let's find out the the truth can't hurt us so let's let's find out the implications of not writing very often we've seen that AB a mention to people that haven't written for a while tonight is going to reveal a new insight into that okay 311 I I'm assuming that EBA used that way of referring to the date meaning January 31st I'm assuming because that's the way the person dated their letter um because you don't find this very often in the Deb's letters that the I mean in the Deb's Hebrew letters or Yiddish letters that the debba should even mention in English date let alone use that as the way of referring to a letter so I'm assuming that's the way that the person dated his letter so at any rate after a long silence I finally got your letter s means like finally at long last I got your letter from January 31st uada certainly it has been um publicized it is well known meaning it's not a secret thing that which my father-in-law whose yard site was just yesterday has said so the Deb is saying you haven't heard from you a long time I finally got your letter and I want to mention something to you that I I'm sure is not the first time you've heard that's why I'm assuming this is Aid um in addition to the fact the person is teaching is evident from from the rest of the letter but the Reb is saying I'm sure you've heard because all the have heard this thing that my father-in law used to say and what is that to about those people who are called here the Reb calls it and other places it's called the plural tar means problems pain grief is just the plural of that sometimes we say it we slur it and we say it fast tus or some people's accent evenus but you say literally means those who have problems well we all have problems so who's that describing let's find out who are these tus orar he explained meaning the explained his words there are such people who write to the who correspond only May the merciful one protect us k when they have some pain or some aggravation that's the end of the quote there's a letter there are many uh places where the fre refers to but there's one letter that I saw recently where um the f is writing to somebody who wrote to him about some problems and the F says you know I'm sure you've heard what I've said before about and uh you know the people who I only hear from them when they want something I only hear from them when they have a problem and which is okay that's part of the Reid relationship but I only hear from them then and they have to realize that the main aspect of the relationship is that theid is doing the things that a is supposed to do so to them when do they think of the Reb when they have a problem but I want them to think of the Reb this is a letter from the f I saw where he's saying I want them to think of the when they have to think about their duties about their side of the relationship meaning learning and following customs and practices so in other words it can't just be that you think of the Reb when you need something you have to think about also your side of the relationship that's how I saw the explain it it seems from this letter and I don't know if this is the or that is just explaining it more but what we're about to see here from the rabit is is is a whole other level of this idea let's let's look inside it's baffling to me that you would want to be in this category that you would want to be that kind of a and that therefore when they wanted who's they you know they they say you they in Yiddish you would say men like as Gult that when it was wanted you would say it like in the passive in English when it was the desirable thing when it was deemed correct that you should be writing to me to let me know about setting up the sheer the class the Torah class it's a actually it's a class inis as Apparent from the context of the letter so when it was deemed appropriate you can say you want to be spiritual you could say on high you know the in this spiritual courts whatever it is the point is when the time came that it was the right thing for you to let me know about your starting this new class there was no other way to get you to do so Ella except Shish if you would have a problem raan May the merciful protect us and therefore you sent because you have a problem you'll send a letter and then also meaning like incidentally now that you're writing about your problem you'll let me know about the new class or classes says here plural what is that I was saying here the implication is pretty clear you weren't going to write to me to let let me know good news about starting the new class until you had a problem and then when you had a problem you also happen to mention as long as you're writing that you started a new class and maybe just maybe and we have to be very careful how we're reading this maybe just maybe if you would have written to me about good news in the first place you wouldn't have had to write to me about bad news now I am filling in a little bit of the gaps here it's uh I mean the Rebus says it fairly clearly that when when it was deemed that you should be writing to me about this year there was no other way to get you to do so than to have you have some agus neish so therefore the agus neish came about so that you would write and also let me know about this year so theb is kind of saying it pretty clearly there are other letters in the igis thatb says similar things about and you weren't going to write to me and and I and I was waiting for good news and now I finally hear the good news but it's only because you're writing to me about the problem okay I want to be very careful that we don't read this and I'll just say it I'll say the elephant in the room because why not I mean if if anyone out there is thinking it then I think it's more helpful to say it maybe someone's hearing this and like is is is the E like God forbid is like blackmailing this guy like if you want to have a good life you better write to me more often is that what the Deb is saying look I'll say it because if someone out there is thinking it then it's better I should say it and talk it through then to let somebody come away with that that impression no God forbid that's not what the Deb is saying so how do I understand this what is the EP is saying so let's go further in the letter and I think the explanation if if we take it slowly and we unpack it it's incredibly um powerful in its way of conveying the way the world works the way that our mentality has an influence on the way the world Works um and how the subjective affects the objective and the power of positive thinking on how our accountability to the deba actually makes our life objectively better and a lot of stuff like that which I'm just now saying a bunch of stuff that's flying in the air let's ground it let's go back into the text and I and I I hope you're going to see how this is very clear here okay let's let's look back inside it would have been so good and it would be so good to all you could read that is all parties involved or from every angle or in all aspects of the situation if would just habituate themselves to write to the Reb and to inform the Reb Al shim about every good thing it would be very good if the would just make it a habit that they should write to the de regularly about every happy thing they can report okay and therefore consequently habit becomes nature becomes a second nature it says that in Tanya that habit can become nature nature is deeper than habit nature is innate mean it means that's factory default settings that you were born with habit is something that you had to accustom yourself to but after a while habit can even become like nature it can become that deeply implanted so the Deb is saying like this I want you to train yourself and at first it's going to be something you have you have to do mindfully you're going to have to do it um deliberately it's not natural and you're going to have to force yourself to do it but you do it and you do it and you do it and it becomes natural you know there's in education they talk about four stages of learning any skill that the first level is called unconscious incompetence the next is called conscious incompetence then there's conscious competence and then finally there's unconscious competence so what is that first level unconscious incompetence I don't know how to do the skill and I don't even realize that I don't know how to do it I'm ignorant of my own lack of ability okay that's the first level I didn't even realize it was a thing I didn't know it was a thing oh writing to the re about good things all the time I didn't even know of course I'm bad at it because I didn't know it was a thing okay so then you find out it's a thing so then it becomes conscious incompetence now I am aware that I'm bad at something okay so then the next thing is hopefully right away is conscious competence I can do it but I have to force myself I have to be conscious of it if I don't remind myself to do it I don't do it because it's not natural to me but then after a while you do it so often unconscious competence you become good at it without even having to think about it because it's just herle nier the Habit becomes natural it just flows so the debba saying like like this it's not natural for you I know I know obviously it's not natural for you because you're not doing it but please tell the to just get used to doing this and it's going to become a habit for you now Watch What Happens Next Watch What Happens Next you're going to make it habit and then it'll become nature that you're gonna see that your nature will become changed along this track that you're GNA have more Sim in your life you follow you follow what the just said there you know I know people who write a gratitude list that every morning when they wake up before they go out into the world before they start having to process stimuli they get their brain on track they write a gratitude list I'm going to write 20 things that I'm grateful for what is the debba saying here the debba saying habituate yourself to write to me about good news and you will naturally become a happier more positive optimistic person that's what the debba said that there will become more Simka in your life if you follow what the Reb said if it becomes Habit to you to write and to report Sim so you're going to become like a journalist who's always looking for a scoop you always need to write something need you need to report something so you're going to be looking for it our nature is we always look for [Music] problems if you know that you have to write to the Deb whether whether you're ready to or not whether you're you're in the mood to or not whether you feel like you have what to write or not but you know you're going to have to write and have to report good things so you're going to become trained at spotting all the good things in your life this is what the Reb is saying here so now we can start to kind of understand what the Reb is saying about I wish you would write more often it would be good for you it would be better for your life you would have less problems in your life why because the Reb is saying if you know that you have to regularly write to me about good things you're going to have to become good at I spy with my little eye something something something happy something good news and you're going to see more of that stuff okay so this is already worth the price of admission I'm I'm a happy guy I mean this this is you don't get better than this but you do because if you keep reading it does get better than this this is only subjectively which is already pretty good but this is only subjectively meaning if you're going to train yourself to look for the positive because you know you have to write good news to the Deb all the time you're going to start seeing more positive stuff and you're going to be more happy okay but now the Deb is going to say that it's going to even make your life better objectively not just subjectively from your perspective objectively it's G to make your life better from a from a objective stance I don't know any other way to say it okay how's that going to happen I understand positive thinking framing have a good attitude look at the bright side glass half full but going to tell me the glass is actually get more full because I see it as half full yes yes yes and yes and yes watch this [Music] the go look at the Z and the deba sends you to the Z he says a go look at it good now I recognized the Z when I saw the the MIM this Z is there's a famous about about about got afraid that that found out that he killed the incredible about and the mechanics of that and how it's not just positive thinking it's not just reframing but it actually objectively changes the reality it's what they started uh calling I mean the new fangled way they started talking about the past 10 15 years the The Law of Attraction this is old stuff by the way if you really want to know the history of it it started with the new thought movement back in the 1930s you know like Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich that kind of stuff which I think is one of the best selling books in English at least from the 20th century probably probably one of the best selling books that was all new thought movement stuff anyways those th the whole premise of that was about but the idea of thinking actually causes things to change objectively in the universe around you it's not just that you take it better or you perceive it better but actually it becomes better because of the way you thought about it you look in the Z over there so the Z says that the way Hashem made the world there's see they call the law of attraction it's not a law of attraction it's a law of reciprocity the Zer there explains the law of reciprocity those are the words that I'm giving to it but here are the mechanics of the Zer there explains that the way that a person subjectively feels about reality as it's being created is going to be mirrored back on high and then mirrored back so like boom boom boom right that's the technical word for it boom boom boom and and the way that you feel about your life is actually going to change the course of your life because when the person is Bim they give him more to be Bim about the rich get richer the rich get richer not just subjectively that you feel better about what you were going to get anyway but objectively it increases the happy things that come to you so that says like this if you are going to know that it's part of your I was going to say daily routine I know people who do it daily but that's too intimidating maybe maybe even if I say weekly routine it's too intimidating but if you know it's your regular routine I'm going to say regular you talk to your mopic if you know it's part of your regular routine you have to write happy news to the rebit so what's going to happen you're going to start looking you're going to constantly on the lookout for happy stuff when you're constantly on the lookout for happy stuff that you're you're going to subjectively feel happier because that's your gratitude list right your gratitude list is going to re make you realize how much you have to be grateful for ah but then when you start subjectively feeling better about your life it's going to rebound up there and it's going to come back down law of reciprocity like Des zire says and objectively you're going to have more in your life to be happy about so this is what the Deb is saying it's not blackmail God forbid where the Deb is saying you know if you're not going to write to me uh like if you don't forward this Chain Letter you know the last 10 people didn't forward this chain you know God forbid that I is saying I'm offering you something that's going to make your life better so please take the uh take me up on this offer on on on this opportunity okay um may it be hashem's will that you be the Emissary a good Emissary or an emissary of good it has a double meaning there to spread this good custom not just for yourself everyone around you so theb is saying listen Be My Messenger please tell everyone that this is a good thing don't keep this secret to yourself I don't want this to be a secret I want everybody to know this okay let's continue now N I enjoyed and now I couldn't help but think when I was reading this letter that if the guy would have written the letter a month earlier this could have been the entire response in other words the guy could have written to the debba about starting this year and not mentioning any problems CU he didn't yet have the problem and maybe he wouldn't have had the problem so this is the way I was looking at it like the guy WR wrote the letter a month earlier that ab's response the whole response could have started with Nai I enjoyed I enjoyed that you wrote about the sh in other words that was the whole reason you needed to write to me the real reason you needed to write to me to tell me about the sh and I enjoyed that I enjoyed reading about the shim that you set up the classes I don't know why we had to go through that whole thing that you had to have problems that had to become to come and write to me you know we could have sidestepped that whole issue all right so I enjoyed that you wrote to me about the and certainly oh listen what the debba says here and I want everyone here to take this to heart you're listening to this you're enjoying this you like this this is helping you please listen to these words and take them personally the debot tells the person who's giving the shear I hope that everyone who's taking part in the shear is drawing in other people every one of them in other words don't say oh yeah I think there's someone in this class who's bringing other people no everyone in the class every individual if you're enjoying this right now you got to bring people in to this class I thought about this whether this was uh corny but I think no it's actually um I think it's sincere and I think it's important that e is saying right now if you're participating in a class actually that e is writing to the guy who's giving the class so I'm taking it personally that the guy who's giving the class should make sure that everyone who's taking part of the class should bring in other people to the class are you enjoying this you find this meaningful this is a nice for okay so go take the link go up to your browser you're watching this on some device right now go cut and paste that link and send it out as a text a WhatsApp an email to five people or go put it on a group put it on a group then you could post it once go send it to five people and say right now I'm enjoying this this has added value to my life because I want to tell you something it's beautiful the feedback that we've been getting about this hakana is beautiful I'm a little bit frustrated we got I'm saying qualitatively some of the feedback is just it's just beautiful what people are writing and how how much it's enriching their lives and how much meaning they're finding in it I I mean I'm I'm Blown Away by it but pamos quantitatively sorry I mean uh quality is more important than quantity that's true but quantity is also good so I think we need to have some quantitative goals here that everyone who's watching should bring in another person so however many people it sounds very crash to say it like this but whatever the count was however many people watched let's say class one because most people are going to start from the beginning I don't know I don't some people psychologically they want to start from class one other people will just start from whatever class we're up to today but if you go look at how many views are on class one I would hope that we and I think that could do it that by tomorrow we could have that number doubled and I think we should double it and I think this is called taking these words to heart so I've been talking about this for a long time meaning two minutes but I've been doing it to give you time to buy time for you to cut and paste that link from your browser and send it to five people so I think by now you've done it okay so we'll go back to the letter uh it is certainly Superfluous for me to mention to you that when you're giving the shear when you're giving the class that not only you're explaining what it says on the page but you're also explaining the arum that's the Yiddish word for the environment or the background ofis and its customs and uh its guidance for us in other words when you're learning let's say a or there's actually learning the content what the the text is teaching but then if you if you give a if you give a class you know you got to give the the lus like we call it the the juice and the juice is you fill it in with some descriptive stories about the lives of and daytoday stuff and like you know not just the ideas the abstractions or the the mystical Concepts that we're learning but you know describe a little bit stories are very powerful for this about what what what this kind of life looks like on a day-to-day basis you know in in real people's lives so that's important and by the way I've been trying very hard to do that in this class to give give a lot of the background and to talk about some of the people involved as much as I can find out and give you stories and fill in the the historical background for the letters so that's you know I I that that's a that's approach to giving a Shear that obviously something that I got from the way that AB told people to give classes okay should give you success with your students and those that you influence okay one more paragraph regarding your question you asked a question about Saka about giving Mya he's taking off a tenth of his earnings to give to mentions parenthetically by the way you said my sir which means a tenth I hope you're doing a little bit more than a tenth like we know our sages say not to be overly meticulous you know don't don't uh don't go to the decimal point you know round up when it comes to uh Myer so the rebba says regarding the and it should be just you know round up a little bit the rebba says you can include within that within the Myer funds the Saka that you're giving in honor of these are various different funds that the's office administered now with blessings for good news in all of the above and the Reb signs his name again uh a good week a good month happy uh PES preparations and uh let's look for good things to be grateful about let's write to the Rabin more often and uh let's bring some more people to this class okay