Tanya (Part 4)

Good morning, Boto. Welcome back to 10 minutes of meeting. Please help yourself to slushie coffee pastries in the lobby. We're very grateful as always to our generous sponsors of 10 minutes of meeting of our Tanya series, Marilyn and Michael Fedak. Thank you for your generosity. We gave an overview to Tanya and last week we uh analyzed and we spoke about the title page of Safe for Tanya. It's an unusual thing that a book has so much packed into its title page. The title page itself is worth darling. So again the disclaimer I'm not teaching Tanya I'm learning Tanya out loud together with you and making our way and trying to understand. So the begins with the with an author's introduction which we're not going to read word for word but I'll summarize for you before we dive into the opening per the first paric of Tanya and here the balatanya essentially justifies the writing and the publishing of seafanya. Why does he have to justify it? Because the first half of this introduction, the balani explains why you cannot compare what you read in a book, what you learn in a safer with what you can derive and can extract from contact with a Rebi interpersonally, sitting and connecting, listening and learning, consulting and confiding. How can one begin to compare the one-on-one what one sees in the saddak? How the saddak can see what's in your heart and in your soul? How they can respond to your reaction to your question to how well you absorb with when one reads a book. He describes the danger when one reads a book, they're reading it through the filter of their own mind and heart. They're reading it through their own understanding which has limitations and therefore may be superimposing on what they're reading. And therefore he writes anu the author's introduction in fact was a letter a pastoral letter that was sent in anomnu anamu is known today in an acronym as an we use an to describe hardcore kabad labavaturure authentic genuine raised in the tradition the anash anchu and the balatana writes this letter 1795 to Iraq should bless them and should protect them. Which is interesting because he's writing that letter to those who are in that community around white Russia in that area whereas is spreading to his disciples and to his who have been coming to see him on mass. And he's writing some of this letter to explain why he's unable to have an audience with each of them individually but why this medium of putting a pen to paper of publishing this safer of collecting these communications and conversations is the best way to proceed and he introduces it with anu to an fascinating because today there's a big movement and effort and I guess officially technically now we're part of it to say that Tanya is not relevant only to Anlamo Tanya is not written for the disciples and of it's for the entire world. Every Jew, everyone who aspires to grow, to elevate, everyone who wants to heal and solve the illness inside us, every bayoni, which is essentially the whole world. That's who whom it is for today. So the first half of this letter explains the danger and why we don't believe in putting pen to paper. In fact, the bashmto the bashtov once had a dream that he encountered the sultanat brings in his commentary and tanya carrying a cafer and he challenged his tamidum mag of mez and others what is this book have you recorded my wr my teachings and they said yes we've started to record it and he was very very bothered because he understood from heaven that the message was not to record some things are meant to be communicated orally and directly and interpersonally and not to be put into into paper the same way that originally that oral Torah was meant to be communicated orally and there's in fact a prohibition to record and to write the Torah the oral Torah and to write it down. That's why the Bashm we have very few of his original writings. It's his others who record his his teachings. But here the Balatana then continues in this letter to explain and justify why it's necessary. He simply can't handle the masses. he can't handle the individuals who are interested in the interpersonal one-on-one and the direct contacting conversations. And so what he does is he says, "I've collected the conversations, the correspondence, what's bothering and what's at the core of what people want to know and I've put it into organized my responses into this safer." And this is essentially the parallel in the Torah nist to the nigla in the revealed world of Torah. What began as our oral Torah Tosha though it was far from ideal ultimately it was chosen for it to be recorded and accessed and where would we be today withoutem going tonight someone's making where would we be today without the recorded as our and what began in as a and that was the ideal way of communication what could be done there was no choice as he writes and therefore it needed to be recorded. It needed to be it needed to be written down and that is what he addresses to every person in our community. Everyone in our community found in this country in white Russia and its environs and its area alum there have already been intimate conversations. because I've had so many and countless private meetings and therefore you've revealed to me everything in the depths of your hearts and minds the things that revolve around internally what's in the heart. So now that I know I'm able to record now the bala does not communicate it as a correspondence. He doesn't collect it as question and answer format, but he's saying through the conversations I've had, through the direct contact, I know essentially what's at the core of what people want to know, what's bothering them, what we're trying to heal. And therefore, though it wasn't ideal, this is the only way to uh to do it. First published in 1796, and it outgrows its initial core audience. And this Miller brings in his commentary of the 68idic books that were published from the movements beginning until the end of 1815. The Tanya was reprinted the most 11 times. And now over 200 years after its initial publication, the Tanya is studied by tens of thousands across the globe. Maybe that's an underestimate especially since we're now studying it together Wednesday mornings. It appears that the author achieved the very feat which he argued could not be done to write a one-sizefits-all spiritual manual for a very broad audience. So while initially and he writes it's intended for our own whatever and however you define our own now its relevance is far and wide and and far far beyond and so he justifies the introduction to the safer essentially is a uh written justification for recording and writing the safer and with that let's at least begin perf of Tanya which begins as its title one of its titles suggests Tanya Tanya The bry it's referencing a bry the word is a quotes a introduces it with the word with the wordim at the end of the third per of the the says the following that before a child is born before a soul that was created saysamos doesn't quote this saysamos when hem created the whole world, the six days of creation. He also created every soul that was destined to exist. And he has a celestial fa cabinet. He has some storage, some arrangement of how he stores those souls. And when the time is right, he takes a soul and he puts it inside a body. And the body houses that soul for, for lucky 70 years, uh hopefully well beyond. And when the time comes, he extracts the soul from the body. That's why rather than have the word death, they don't use the term talk about the extraction of the soul from the body. The soul returns and restores back on high. So back to that soul that's taken out of that celestial file system because the time has been determined. It's to put it inside a body. So before that soul descends, that soul swears is told is made to take an oath. And what's the oath it takes? be righteous. Bead, be a righteous person and don't be wicked. And even if the whole world's going to tell you you're such a big from your to your such a big no, you should nevertheless still consider yourself a Russia. Don't have an inflated ego. Don't let it go to your head. Don't believe what your mother tells you. You're a little sadic sad tadic sadic because a person who thinks I'm such a sadic I'm so perfect I'm so righteous I'm so right everything's so great it's a big danger such an inflated ego and sense of self if a person thinks they're so perfect so therefore we make the soul swear be at saddic strive to be atic not rush and the entire world will tell you you're righteous but you should consider yourself wicked says about how are we meant to understand this because we have a separate in the second. Don't be a wicked person in your own eyes. Don't view yourself as wicked. Essentially, we're trying to strike a balance. If you see yourself as too perfect, too high, too righteous. There's a danger of a big ego of arrogance. But also, our rabbis caution us. Don't be a wicked person in your own eyes. You know why? Because if you see yourself as unworthy, incapable, inconsequential, you see yourself as wicked, then why bother? Why go to shu? Why learn? Why get stuck? Why guard your eyes or your tongue? Why be righteous or right or virtuous if you see yourself already? And moreover, there's an obvious reason why the advice of consider yourself like a wicked person would be counterproductive, would be self-sabotaging, would be dangerous. And here the is a very prevalent idea in writes a lot about it and others. The kryptonite. We spoke about it last week on Shabasa. The kryptonite of aid, the undoing of a Jew, what will guarantee our demise and our end is sadness, melancholy, depression. We're not talking about a clinical diagnosis out of someone's control, but we're talking about a person who allows or chooses to be sad, to be miserable, to be downtrodden, to be despondent, to be depressed. Is the kryptonite. It undermines we're now we're days away from says you want to get out of whatever you're being held back in life is whatever constrictions restrictions the sky is falling the walls are caving in you want to break out and set yourself free but you got to be you got to be joyful and enthusiastic energized I but my parnasa and tariffs and the stock market and a war in Israel and what's going to be and PES preparations and the cost of matzah. Okay. So what? Yeah. Yeah. With that. So what? With that. With that. So the bat is bothered. What do you mean? If you'll see yourself as a Russia, hopeless and helpless, it's going to make you depressed and downhearted. It's going to bring you down. And how can you work to serve? The skip in our step with joy in our hearts, the smile on our p on our face. You have to be positive and upbeat and happy because that creates our own reality. The energy we put into the universe. So the person is going to see themselves as I'm a lowly nothing good for nothing reject pathetic failure. So then you're going to be sad and miserable and pessimistic and create that reality. But Hashem wants us to serve him. Now the Tanya the Tanya does not quote that many explicit exact references. But the bal of course was well versed in the totality of Torah and is making illusions and references of a person is familiar. Here's one wants us to serve comes from the second when Hashem says why do I visit this harsh punishment upon you because you don't serve me with joy with a skip in your step with happiness in your heart. Happiness is not an emotion. Happiness is a decision. So decide to be happy. live a life of happiness. And if on the other hand, you don't become sad at all from that wickedness. So let's say you're not brought down by the idea that you're Russia. You're not saddened by, you're not depressed by, you're not struggling with it. You accept it. You're proud of it. You wear it with pride. So now imagine the danger. Person says, "I'm a Russia careless and carefree and I'm able to just live life and all I care about is my pleasure. Pleasure seeker." That's also going to lead to very very bad things. So batanya says how are we meant to understand this at the end of the third paric of nida that the soul takes an oath be a sadic not a rush but consider yourself even the whole world tells you from don't believe it don't believe it don't buy the hype don't believe it see yourself and in your heart see yourself as a Russia I but elsewhere the very same say don't ever see yourself as a Russia that will bring you down how do we reconcile this contradiction how do We reconcile and the Banyan here is addressing it from two perspectives. Number one, a lumba perspective. We have a contradiction between two statements of so what's the lumbus? How do you reconcile a contradiction between two statements of kazal? But moreover, he's asking not only from a lumbish perspective, from an academic perspective, how do you reconcile a conflict of two statements of the same source? But moreover, just practically, methodologically, strategically, how will you live a righteous and a good life, a happy life, if you're knocking yourself down to see yourself as a Russia? So, aside from the contradiction, the sources that need to be resolved, but just in terms of how we live life, how will it help or res how will it resolve anything? How will it address any of our problems to knock ourselves down? One of two things will happen. will be miserable, bitter, negative, depressed, and that's the kryptonite of a yid. Or if we're careless and carefree, and we say, "I'm a Russia. I might as well carpeyed. I'm just going to go have the pleasures of life." That's also not going to lead anywhere anywhere good or anywhere positive. And that's what the balania in this first paric now is trying to resolve. But he's going to do it in a sheer cli style. You have to understand the bat is dealing with could call it whatever you want to describe but he's doing it like a rasha first he's going to build up a series of caches a good rashali in the base yeshiva he asked this question then he ask another question then he throws in a third question he quotes these sources they look like they all conflict and contradict one another boom then he gives you a he gives you a answer and now that answer all of a sudden you wonder how did I not see that all along wrong. That answer is so obvious. That answer is so compelling that explains all the contradictions. Now it all makes sense. Now it all comes together. So this was the first question that he's asking. Contradiction of the sources and a contradiction to our own intuition about what will be good and uplifting, how to live life. And then he's going to ask another question. We'll stop here. We find in the braos five definitions good. What do these five differences definitions mean? How do we understand? And where do we see ourselves? And he's setting it up for what he calls the benonim. This is the book of the bayonim. We're a support group. This is a group of bayonim. We're a community of bayonim. We're a world of bayonim. But he's building building building to be able to give that yod to give that answer and that definition of what's a benon. And once we know and answer what is a benon now we can know how to navigate life as a benon as a card carrying member of the of the benon. We'll pick up after pesos.