Tanya (Part 2): Introduction and Overview

good morning good morning and Boer welcome back to 10 minutes of meaning we are starting a new liud as you remember from last time Rita introduced saer was an incredible if you didn't yet hear it or watch it you can on a podcast player or YouTube and it's a Well worthwhile listen as R spoke about the uniqueness and the significance and the way in which we connect to the sadic to the balatan himself when we learn his safer and how it helps us navigate and it gives us the tools to heal from all the maladies of life and of in this world we have a new Li and we have a new sponsor I want to thank my dear friends Marilyn and Michael fedak whove sponsored our 10 minutes of meaning the series of Tanya and are excited to explore and to learn it together as we go forward I want to repeat I'll try not to repeat it each and every week how grossly inadequate I feel to be teaching Tanya and that's why I'm not in a position to be teaching Tanya I'm simply learning Tanya for myself and learning Tanya together with you and together we'll tap into the compass to now navate our lives that is the Hal of the Holy saer hat so I appreciate your bearing with me and understanding we'll be using a classic we'll talk about the three different names of the safer in a moment in our introduction and I want to acknowledge at the beginning I find enormously helpful Rabin has a saer called opening the Tanya it's an English interpretation of Tanya for every one line of Tanya in the Bold there are paragraphs or pages of commentary and of explanation which is why this first volume only covers the opening chapters there are many many volumes of rin's Al's commentary and together we'll navigate but before we dive into the text itself before we try to immerse ourselves in Tanya and to be able to use it to improve and Elevate and navigate Our Lives I want to give a little bit of an introduction to Tanya because how can you learn Tanya without first learning about who the balh himself was what motivated him what inspired him how did he come to write and publish and when did T appear if we don't have a context for the safer and the author of The safer how can we in Ra's words how can we connect and bind ourselves to its author if we don't know who he is of the great bat was born on the 18th of L 5505 he was born September 14 1745 in white Russia what's now known as bellarus his father is RoR and his father he himself is a descendant of the great maharal Udi of Prague the great B the great thinker the Mahar who lived in the 16th century the balat is A's descends from him ban is recognized as a child as a prodigy as a super genius already identified as a Young Man soon after he gets married the balatan decides he needs to move to a great Center of Torah if he's going to break out if he's going to become his best self if he's going to realize his potential he needs to move to a center of Torah and he describes that he feels feels in that moment there are two options two choices he can go to vilna or he can go to Mich VNA is home of the great Von VNA the Von the greatest mind one of the greatest minds of the generation the Von who had a working encyclopedic incredible genius understanding of all of Torah and worldly wisdoms that was one option go to VNA and immerse yourself as a student of the villag the other was Mich home of the great mag ROV be and R says feeling that he knew a little bit he knew a little bit how to study Torah but he describes he knew less about how to pray he decides to go to Mich go decides to go learn at the feet of the Magid a decision a decision itself is a lesson for us sometimes we shouldn't be flippant and we should take our time have we should be careful about our decisions because that one decision Chas changed the course of the Jewish people and Jewish Destiny and he ended up in v as opposed to M we don't know what would have been but certainly we know the balat the RO he plays the introduction of its impact on the world today all of that is because of that faithful decision that he made he arrives in 1764 he enters the magid's inner Court as one of his close disciples 1770 the maged recognizes is a Super Genius this is no ordinary person and he challenges him to update the he asked them to compile an updated that would reflect their common now customs and practices and indeed this was not only something that would be functional and useful but it was strategic in this battle and War which we're not talking about right now between and if the would publish a magnumopus it would demonstrate the seriousness of Hal and Authority in as well so the labored for many years to work on the the tragically most of the manuscripts were lost in a fire we have we have some other sections most of it tragically was lost it was written concisely clearly clearly it's use of Hebrew language and the today is a very big part of Allah almost every week we quote we reference the AL because that is very much part of the discourse and conversation conversation today an attempt to make it Universal it didn't make it kabad Centric but it added customs in the cter and not in the itself 1767 becomes mag in his hometown he attracts followers who want to learn and and serve with him 1772 while forming three Kad groups of students he develops his own his own philosophy that's when he introduces what we'll see and really from the par that we're reading right now is endowed with and and those three different descriptions and types and understandings of intellect and wisdom are the basis of his philosophy and the curriculum they inform this movement that he begins that he launches 1774 he and his colleague of of go on a mission to the Von they're trying to bring peace between the and the MISD there are all kinds of stories about exactly how that went and what happens and why they didn't meet and how the Von would have been taken by him but we'll again leave that for another time 1774 following the death of the mag of M viewed as a leader of but then he is threatened by the opponents ofus and in 1777 he immigrates he moves to erel to Israel was originally part of the group that went with the m but quickly turns around and returns home as the de facto Heir the successor the now leader ofus who is Left Behind to build a system and he does he builds a system of that he could send Messengers to other locations to educate to bring this philosophy to bring this Torah to bring this movement and he became very very popular he was frustrated he couldn't spend more time with specific individuals and he realized he can't transmit one-on-one or even in small groups is Torah he would need to take to publishing he would need to take to use some mechanism and platform some vehicle and instrument to take these teachings and Toros to take this movement and to bring it on a more mass on a more mass scale he he authors the Tanya in 1797 as a systematic articulation of the fundamentals ofas instead of teaching one-onone or in small groups he organizes it and in 1797 he takes this systematic now organized articulation ofas to be able to disseminate and the influence spreads it spreads quickly throughout white Russia Lithuania and even vilna itself and because of its influence whenever there's a influence of positivity there's always equal and opposite of a force that's trying to stop it it's the way Theon Shalom the created the world saged him and form on him to the Russian government claiming that he had sent money to the Sultan of turkey when he sent them to Israel it was in order to in fact fund the Sultan of turkey an opponent an adversary 1798 he's arrested with a capital crime and he's tried in in Petersburg Peterburg after the trial he's released from prison you may be familiar with his date because they fing everywhere including at poone synagogue and that is on the 19th of K test klave which he understood as a message from Hashem the fact that he was so to say put on trial he interpreted as his efforts and movement andus was on trial the fact that he was Vindicated and exonerated and released on he interpreted and accepted as a message from above from Hashem to spread to spread and indeed he gains tens of thousands of followers ultimately a second accusation comes in the year 1800 and he suffers a lengthy imprisonment and on his release that's when he moves to Le in 1812 Napoleon invades Russia the ALB is among the great opponents of the French Conquest he's concerned with the Emancipation and that freedom the influence assimilation that it could lead to very precient he understood and sees what others didn't at the time and as the French Advance he had to flee in 1812 he dies in a remote Village and he's buried in nearby uh in a nearby town and Village as well the Tanya the sa were're about to learn together there's a lot more to say obviously that I left out that is in five minutes six minutes a little overview of the balat Tanya's life so this safer has three names to it Tanya now the word Tanya is not introduced by the AL the word t long precedes him it is a word of our rabis t means a teaching refers to AA ABA when the gamarra is quoting ABA the gamar is the mishna it includes references to Bros and toos and the gamar is organized as a commentary on the mishna and Aba gamar alludes to the fact that it's quoting or referencing a br by using the word t and that's how the safer opens by quoting AA and therefore begins with the word t so Tanya in some ways doesn't capture what the book is really all about Tanya is the word that's used for AA which how the book begins and what it quotes and that's why it starts that way the second name for the book hold on one second second name for the book Ison means the book of bonim the book of intermediaries the book of intermediaries and we'll see in a moment what that means because the AL introduces a very different usage of the word than we're used to we talk about the ra and the scales are even that aad has more merits on the scale than demerits and the Russ has more wicked acts than positive ones and the benoni Bon the scale is even 50/50 and one's next ACT will tip the scale in favor to become either a sadic or a Russia but the Bon is the one who's exactly the has an entirely different understanding interpretation of what the B is and what the benon is struggling with and we'll see that in a moment the third name for the saer is which means a collection of teachings he writes in the introduction and we saw this the did similarly when we learned and completed you can find it online if you want to learn the entire series writes at the beginning I am introducing and saying absolutely nothing new I'm telling you what you already know I'm just repeating it because it's important to remember the balat also says I'm just collecting Rabin teachings so this book is called a collection of teachings a collection of teachings it's incredibly humble it's novel it's groundbreaking it's revolutionary his safer it changes the world but in humility he introduces it and even titles it as it's just a collection it's just a collection of teachings so what's the purpose of Tanya why does he put out his safer of Tanya you see on the cover a collection of teachings tanyaa the opening word which is peric of how it begins T we get into the text uh probably next week what is the purpose what is the goal what is the mission of Tanya it doesn't delve into specific problems but it delves into the root of human failing it doesn't diagnose or address specific maladies or poor judgment or poor habits but it gets into the core and the root it diagnoses where they all come from which when one goes to a doctor you can focus on the symptoms and you could treat symptoms but an excellent doctor doesn't treat symptoms treats illness says let's figure out why are you having these series of symptoms so I won't just give you this pill and this cream and this therapy let's heal the illness from within and that will solve the symptoms and similarly the balatan who's the great doctor of the Soul doesn't treat the symptoms but he's trying to understand what are the inner workings of the inner soul what's the difference between good and evil what are human imperfections and struggles and doubts and drives and temptations where do they come from and if we can heal that underlying core illness then we'll see the symptoms fall away is written to be learned chronologically we studied it and those MOS are built in steps so you have to learn or grow or try to master one before you move on to the next one zus and zus and nus and all of them Tanya is written very differently it could be worked on simultaneously I'm a novice as I said we're learning it together I'm not teaching it but those who really know it and whom I've learned it with from raber We're privileged to have locally to ra m in conversations they the Mastery of R may choose to sit and learn with someone not in order skip to this par or these series of Pim and begin with it and then come back to the beginning so unlike M which is chronological the Tanya can be worked on and learned simultaneously at the core of Tanya is this struggle this illness that's within us that is trying to heal or repair is the struggle the battle between The Godly soul and the animal Soul we as human beings are made up of two souls neish and created us with so much parallel to the the neish behem we have a physical identity and we live and operate and enjoy and get pleasure from the material world and that's an aspect of the human soul and it's not inherently negative again as opposed to other philosophies and Views where the animal in US is negative and that the goal is to slaughter and eliminate and Destroy and Purge the animal impulse and animal Instinct that's not the bat's Approach at all the balatan in fact sets out that the animal soul is not fundamentally evil it's a battle of educating and training the animal just like animal some people here have pets someone on a farm we have animals animals aren't inherently evil even though an animal follows its impulse even though an animal follows its Instinct even though we don't use flatteringly when we describe someone's room acting like an animal or eating like a pig or room looks like a pig's thigh that means they're indulging the animal impulse in them but animals are not inherently bad animals need to be trained and if an animal is trained in fact not only are they not bad but a trained animal has impacted positively Humanity in countless different ways so the balatan says the animal in US is not something that we struggle and we try to defeat and we try to suppress and squash and Destroy and kill and water no we try to train the animal and elevate it to a higher level of awareness and understanding and we're trying to achieve a piece between the body and the soul the earthliness and the Transcendence between the nefes Bahamas the animal in us and the The Godly soul that God breathed and endowed us with and these two souls or levels or layers of the soul that can be competing but our goal and our mission our mandate and our effort and what the safer is trying to give us a formula to is how to put them in harmony train the animal and utilize it so we'll end with defining the bonm I know we went a little over 10 minutes but I want to finish this introduction we'll end with defining what it means to be a Boni so I said normally Bon is an intermediary an intermediate an intermediate is not is someone who's 50% righteous and 50% evil Wicked that's how most mus books direct become a sadic put something on the scale tip the scale in your favor become a sadic break out of being 5050 for the balat the AL it's not the way it is it's not about a scale it's not about an accounting or an audit of how many merits or demerits one has for the balat that sadic is in a constant stable state that sadic has eliminated an urge and a Temptation and a drive and instinctively and into its now righteousness and the right thing that sadic is stable what it means to be obon is to be in a place of tension and struggle Aon is in a Perpetual state of war in a Perpetual state of War it's not a matter 5050 do one more thing the benoni can be doing everything right B writes the benoni could be doing everything right the whole scale can be tipped what we would call it sad and yet the balatan calls such a person a bon why what makes them a bon is that they're in a state of war and it's a struggle that it's not something that's been conquered or it doesn't come naturally there's a struggle and a tension that's taking place how do we win that battle so Balan is going to explain we achieve perfection in the garments of the Soul which are thought speech and action even if not in the essence of the Soul itself even if not in transforming the essence of the soul but like we're wearing garments the soul has garments and those garments are deor and thought speech and action and it's in those areas by harnessing those that we can we can uh perfect the soul the benon identify and recognize that undesirable lust and thoughts and doubts come from within a component of ourselves and we may not have the power to uproot it totally and their presence within us is not not tragic it's not categorically bad it's like we spoke about lashua ifs internal family systems the idea of the self and the idea of Parts which the balatan was well ahead of his time balatan was endorsing and proposing the whole notion of of ifs of a true and authentic self that's and then we have our parts and those parts include the animal parts and the goal of the animal parts is not to declare them bad or reject them it's to train them and to elevate them and to utilize them to create a Harmon among our parts and the parts with the soul the Boni is the hero of T the hero of Tanya the tanyaa is a safer that is for the benoni and sees the benon not as weak the benon is not inferior the benon not with judgment but the benoni is the hero of the Tanya who lives with that struggle who lives in that battle and hopefully will will defeat it other focuses on the idea that God desires the heart Tanya argues Hashem also desires the mind and the mind the heart is useless you have to have joy and enthusiasm but you can't be emotionally superficial so and that's which we're going to get into the structure of the saer it's made up of five five sections I should say it was published original originally T was published anonymously and three parts and the last two parts in fact were added in 1814 after the after the bat passing consider the of the T this is the written Torah organized and you heard when the way is connected to G he's not AER and yet for all and not only is for all of us and not however one identifies asazi and whatever Min you a PRS on shabas morning of our T has something to say for all of us and healing our soul thank you for indulging me a little extra this morning as we gave our introduction with that am next week we'll begin to dive into the text itself of Tanya