Tanya (Part 21)

Morning. Good morning to all those who are here. What is to be learning kipper? Everyone's running and scrambling and doing and sucking the candies and the lollipops and the eating a big mitzvah to be today. We've got a basket of candies. Have coffee and slushies and food. No guilt. Today's a mitzvah to eat but to sit and stag and to learn a little extra Torah. What is 10 minutes of meeting is generously sponsored by Marilyn and Michael Fedak. Thank you to them for this and all that they do on a regular basis. We are up to the fourth per of Tanya and the alterba has begun. We started by talking about the different levushim the different garments of the soul the clothing of the soul. We spent the bulk of the last time trying to address and unpack what that means. Just like an individual wears clothing the clothing isn't who we are. On the one hand, the clothing reveals. On the other hand, the clothing conceals. The clothing reveals with whom we identify. It's the uniform. It's how we connect with others. What are we wearing? But it also conceals because it is protecting what is underneath. It is not exposed. So, so too the clothing of the soul both reveals the values, the priorities of the soul, but also conceals. It covers it covers the soul at the same time. And just like the clothing that we wear as a utility, the clothing that we wear as a function, it protects us from elements and it connects us with those around us. But we never confuse ourselves with our clothing. Similarly, the clothing of the soul, it is the garment of the soul, but it's not the soul and shouldn't be confused. What we spent a lot of time last time with was if you had to put uh thought into a category, where would you put makava? The fact that a person thinks, the conversation we have in our own heads, our thoughts, where would you place that? Is that the soul or is that a garment of the soul? Is it the essence of who we are or is it something that we wear? So I would have thought the inner world and the inner thought is all part of the essence of who we are. But the comes along and he tells us it's not true. Among the among the garments of the soul is thought, speech and action specifically of when a person physically fulfills all the actionable and uses speech to learn to discuss to articulate the many mitzvah and immerses himself in thought with whatever we can grasp on whatever level of so then the divine soul including all the 613 subcomponents is wearing the garments of action, speech and thought. So that means to say that not only is action extraneous external to who we are, it's like a garment we put on or take off. Not only is speech external to who we are, even our inner world of thought that no one else has access to is also a lavush. It is also a garment that we wear and that we put on. Okay, all that we covered last time to be precise. Our souls of our soul are fully engaged through the garment of thought. So to be more precise, the total immersion of our soul in the garments. You could be wearing a garment that's half hanging off of you or you can wear the garment in a way that you're wearing it. You're filling it out. It's it's it's dignifying and elevating you. So to be precise, our souls and are fully engaged to the garment of thought. How? When we study Torah and we approach Torah and analyze it on its four levels on the level of parades, the four levels of understanding. So now our soul spiritual root is connected through thought to that Torah. So thought when we use our intellectual capacity when we use our cognitive ability when we are able to direct and regulate and manage our thoughts to analyze the four levels parad of Torah we are taking the world of thought and we are wearing the garment of to connect Hashem's Torah the parallel isos now in the world of emotion and awe and love van fe and all of their all of their corollaries the and all of their offshoots became. So now how do I express how do I wear the garments of love and all the feelings and emotions I have for Hashem that my soul yearns my soul connects through the world of action of Torah of mitzvah and through the world of speech when I share the Torah and when I passionately connect to my when I build my suka when I shake my minimum when I blow the chauffeur I'm wearing the garment of action and the garment of speech to take what is in the core and the essence of my soul and to connect it to what is to what is above the highest use of speech of course what's the garment of speech that brings speech to the highest level the greatest garment it can wear is of course which is so why is practical observance of mitzvah an expression of love so the continues love is the motivator behind all of the 248 positive They all flow from love and they have no true basis without it. That means to say that you could do a mitzvah superficially, externally. You could do a mitzvah as a checklist Jew. A checkless Jew this time of the year, this season, it's very easy to fall prey to be a checklist Jew. Kaparos, check. Chauffeur last week, check. Build the suka, check. Bought my dollar, check, check, check, check, check, check. my kit already. Is my M ready? Did I do the kaparos? Did I eat today? Did I? There's so many. Did I give the check, check, check? Like your mind could be going crazy with how much there is to do. So much so that you forget to be present and mindful and engaged and invested while you're doing it. You're so eager to put the check on the checklist and to move on to the next item to be able to cross off the whole season and breathe the sigh of relief and say in the books. so eager to do that that the whole season passed you by and you forgot to be present for any of it. The plemius of it the connection with it. So that's what the is saying that aa is the sh of all 240 mitzvah say this is based on the raban and even earlier the ramban is a tradition that mitzvah say positive commandments correspond with love whereas the negative commandments 365 negative commandments are y which is greater which supersedes the other we have a principle in if you have a conflict whether to fulfill a positive commandment or a negative one should you put sitsus on the sh should you we have many examples. So when we back when we used to learn the uh our our sheer series on you can find it online we spent several on is it that the doesn't even exist or it exists but it is suspended what if you can do fulfill both of them even if you can't there's a lot of lumbus in but the ramban says why is it that say why does the positive commandment supersede why does it beat the negative one because because love supersedes awe or fear. Love is greater. Now the love begins with the racial the beginning is if the is not founded on a foundation of it's not ava. The love has to be founded on a good healthy dose of awe. Meaning the child who walks around, calls the parent by the first name, steps all over the parent, ignores the wishes of the parent, feels they're an equal with the parent, and then tells the parent, "But I love you so much. I love you. You're amazing. I'm so love you." He said, "Do me a favor. I appreciate that you love me. A little less love, a little more treat me like a parent." So, Hashem says has to be founded on. And then on top of that, the goal is the ava. You don't want the child who walks around afraid, afraid, afraid. No, no. I want you to love. I want you to I love you. I want you to love me. I just want the love to be built on the foundation of ya. So ava is built on the foundation of ya. But the goal of the ya is to be the foundation that holds up the ava because ava is the higher level. Love, affection, emotion, connection, intimacy with Hashem. That's the higher level. How do we get there? How do we get there? The 248 commandments it's based on the zor they all flow from love and have no true basis without it. There is no real kum. Yes you can write check check check check check check season in the books good to go technically. Did you hear chauffeur heard chauffeur technically did you sit in the suka? He sat in the suka but did you hear chauffeur? Were you really in the suka rosha veruba? Are you in the suka? You shake the lava, but did you shake yourself? Did it shake you? So there has to be that love, that connection. Of the 613 of the tag mitz, and 365 are lowass. And while it's possible to observe out of habit or out of peer pressure or out of tradition, it has to come from love. It has to come from love. Because the person who observes the 248 positive action authentically who loves Hashem's name and desires to truly be attached to him. And you can't really love Hashem without observing the 248 commandments which are the 248 organs of the king. as going to get to him. So based on Zar, you can't you can't love Hashem anymore. So the husband can say he loves his wife, but his wife says, "But I asked you to put the cap on the toothpaste and to put the toilet seat down and to make your socks get in the hamper, not next to the hamper, and to take out the garbage." And he says, "I don't do any of those things, but you have no idea how much I love you." So she says, "Love me a little less and take out the garbage." You can't say you love me when all the things I ask you to do and the ways I tell you I can feel connected to you, you neglect and you ignore. So the relationship with the is no different than any of the other relationships in our lives. You can't say, "I love you, Hashem. I'm spiritual and I love you, Hashem, and I'm connected to you, Hashem." And he says, "Yeah, but I gave you all these ways and means which connect to me and you're neglecting and ignoring them all." See, in in I would say thought, butidic thought, but it's an all thought. It's an all Torah. It's a basis of Torah. It's based on the zor. Mitzvah are the organs of Hashem. So when Hashem is offering a mitzvah, he's extending his hand. And when we fulfill the mitzvah, we're grabbing and holding on to his hand. That's why mitzvah, what does the word mitzvah mean? On the one, mitzvah comes from the word civo. Civo means a command. And at it simple, it's base level. Hashem says jump and we say >> how high. >> How high. It's a command. He's the king. Certainly that this is the season. Hashem says jump and we say how high. This is the season. He's the king. But but the also says that the word mitzvah comes from the Aramaic root which means >> savs. Savs means savsa means a connection. A connection. A mitzvah is not a command. When my wife says take out the garbage, is it a command? Absolutely. But it's also a bid for connection. What she's saying is if you don't I have to I'm doing a million other things. I would feel seen and heard and cared about if you would do it. I'm not minimizing marriage taking out the garbage. I'm also not not minimizing marriage, taking out the garbage. But what what a wife is saying is here's here's a chance. I'm busy. I'm in the kitchen. My hands are are knee deep. My hands are kneede in in cooking the meal. Could you do me a favor? Could you take the garbage out if you ignore it and say I love you but no. So what she hears is you don't love me is the same ways. These are bids for connection. Chauffeur lul. These are bids for connection. It's not just I'm the king and I command where you don't have to understand it. You don't have to know it. It doesn't have to yield any connection. When the IRS says the law is you need to pay your taxes, I don't feel connected to the IRS. I feel less connected to the IRS. I feel resentful of the IRS. When when the government has a law, it doesn't make me feel connected to the government or to the legislators who pass that law. It's a command. It's a rule. If you live in that country, you have to be obedient and comply with its laws. So, you can see mitzvos as I live in Hashem's world. I have to be obedient and comply with his laws that he legislated and that's a very low level of seeing mitzvah or the alterb here is suggesting a much higher level is don't see it as mere compliance or obedience. It's not a mitzvah a command. It's not jump how high although that's also true. It's a tavsa the king the legislator saying I legislated this for you to enhance and enrich your life and to connect you to me. This legislation, don't just see as a law. See it as me extending my hand and take my hand. It is a connection. It's a sacred sacred connection, an intimate bond with Hashem. It's how we know him. It's how we connect. And what positive commandments are for love are what the negative ones are for. Again, just come back to marriage. When she says, "Please don't do that." And you did it anyway. what you what you're saying when you did it anyway is I'm not a priority. You don't care about me. My needs are what I asked you. And Hashem says the same thing. You you you don't care about me. So while it is love that motivates you to do something, it's a feeling of reverence or awe or a healthy little fear that makes a person refrain because if you love him, you revere him and you don't want to violate him. That's part of the whole concept of reverence. We'll finish up. So at this basic level, we don't appreciate why it'll distance us. So mitzvah is not just command, it's connection. And is not just fear of punishment. It's awe and reverence. If you respect and you admire, you don't want to disappoint. You don't want to disappoint. If you if you don't only love your father, your mother, if you have awe and reverence for them, you don't want to be a disappointment and you don't want to disappoint them. your Rebi. If you don't just love your Rebi, but you have awe and fear and reverence of your Rebi, you don't want to disappoint. And the same is true of Hashem. You feel ashamed in his presence to insult his honor. You don't want to do what his eyes is lowly. So if you have a rebi and your rebi says that behavior that action that speech that would really disappoint me. So now when you don't speak npe or lashinhara or make an inappropriate joke in front of the rebi you're not doing it out of fear that the rebi is going to throw you out. You're doing it out of awe and reverence because you admire and love the rebi. You don't want to disappoint him. So says here are 365 ways I'd be really disappointed for you. It's not what's best for you. But if you love me and have awe and reverence of me and and don't want me to be disappointed, these are 365 things to refrain from. So at the deeper level of reverence, you appreciate why Hashem hates things that are prohibited. They're the energy of the negative forces and which draw their life force from mortal man's transgressions and their hold on him through 365 prohibitions. So maybe we'll start with that next time. But it means that in the negative prohibitions they're not arbitrary things that Hashem said, let me come up with 365 arbitrary things for you to avoid just to prove that I'm the king. Now the 365 things have citra and kipos. There are negative energies and forces. They will compromise and corrupt your life. Hashem chose to protect us from these negative energies and forces that will compromise and corrupt our lives. And when we indeed believe and observe and subscribe and recognize that that's true and avoid them to not disappoint him and to not ourselves violate them then we are expressing our both love and reverence for Hashem good for learning and this should all be signed and sealed for a year filled with and around the world will pick up after >> after >> right what's next week next Wednesday when when