Tanya (Part 5)

Good morning Boker to good v a good summer. Hope everyone had a beautiful and a meaningful pesak. 10 minutes of meaning series is generously sponsored by Marilyn and Michael Fidak. We're very grateful to them for their generosity. As always, everyone's invited coffee, slushies, pastries, and enjoy the KTS, the return to KTS with the mentality of the matzah. As we've experienced our re-entry, we are learning, continuing our learning of Tanya, not our teaching of Tanya, but our learning of Tanya out loud together. Thank you for adjusting this week to Monday morning instead of the usual Wednesday. So the beginning the opening of Tanya this first per which we've started uh is building up as we've described the alterba the balatana is setting it up almost like a shirlly he's asking a series of questions and building up those series of questions which he'll then try to answer with one with one answer but it takes time. So you have to be patient as he's developing this opening idea which is foundational and fundamental to life and to really build to understand who we are, what makes us tick. As we've said, instead of treating the symptoms of life and the ailments, the illnesses, what we need to fix and heal, he's going right to the core, right to the illness, right to the right to the center to be able to from within help us understand, better understand ourselves so we can better be our best selves. So again, let's start. the end of the third parag tells us that we take an oath when we're born that tells us be and don't be a Russia even if the whole world tells you you're such a big sadic from your such a big sadic you're amazing you're a sadic don't buy into don't believe the hype see yourself as a Russia don't see your greatness see your deficiencies don't see your perfection see your imperfections says the we need to understand this doesn't seem compatible or consistent with what we know. Don't see ourselves as negative. Don't be hyperritical and judgmental of ourselves. Don't see ourselves labeled as a rush. We saw this last time. And if a person will see themselves negatively, diminished, demeaned, if a person will then have a self-fulfilled prophecy. If I'm a Russia, if I'm worthless anyway, then a person will be robbed of any happiness. And we know that the whole was visited upon us because Hashem wants us to serve with joy and with happiness. And if a person is sad, sadness is the kryptonite of aid, of a Jew. It undermines and it compromises and it corrupts us. So why would we see ourselves as a Russia? Why would we see ourselves as lacking, as failed? And on the other hand, you don't become sad from this. And if a person says, "Yeah, I'm a rush. I'm not sad by that. I embrace that. I'm okay with that. I accept that." Then the person who labels and sees themselves as wicked, as evil, is going to act and live in that way. So either way, either you're trying and striving to be great, but it brings you down. Or you recognize I'm lowly and I'm nothing, and then you're just going to sink even lower. So how will you reconcile these two statements on the one end or so that when we're born we take a promise we take an oath that we should be a saddak and not a Russia and on the other end we should never even if the whole world tells us we're at we should still see ourselves as imperfect as a Russia I but if we see ourselves as a Russia it's going to lead to challenges says the answer is we find there are five categories of people in two places Zion four categories and later in the maka the fifth category the first four categories are vovlov there is a righteous person vlo it's good for him vero the righteous person but they experience negativity challenge struggle somebody who is wicked and nevertheless they prosper they benefit or the person who's wicked and they suffer in their wickedness it's bad and then the gamar And has the fifth category and the fifth category is that of the Benoni and here the Balatian it's going to take time be patient is going to develop what these categories all are and it's not what we've always thought and most novel is his interpretation of the of the Beni. So we have these five categories. How do we define them? How do we better understand them? How do we hone in on them? What does it mean? Normally we think of a saddic and a Russia is righteous and there's wicked. You do the right thing, you're righteous. you don't do the right thing, you do the wrong thing or you or you uh don't do the right thing. So you're a Russia. What are the categories within being a saddic? What are the categories within being a Russia? And then how do you throw in this benon? Where does the benon fit into the mixer? And the there elaborates the why are there righteous who prosper and there are righteous who suffer? Because it depends on their level of righteousness. If they are completely and holy and entirely righteous, then they prosper. If they are partially righteous, pretty righteous, not bad righteous, then rao, then they're still going to suffer in this world. So taken at face value, sadik vlo and sad veralo is this external description of reward or punishment is externally how they're living and engaging in this world. It's an external reality. Fortune or misfortune, prosperity or suffering and struggling. The simple understanding the way we were taught our whole lives to dash and to learn is sad means means they're at sadic they're righteous but depending on the level of their righteousness they will either nevertheless suffer or only prosper. some external experience, external manifestation, external interaction with this world. But comes along the balan and he says that's not the way it's meant to be understood. And here it's critical. We're beginning to diagnose our soul. We're beginning to understand what makes us tick. We're beginning to get into the essence of who we are, how we experience, and how we interact with the world. And the way that the balata the alterba elucidates and elaborates the way he opens our eyes is by drawing not only from the explicit gamarra the nigla of brahos but now taking us on a tour of the zohor and the zor bia mahena in a section of the zor called the rahea the faithful shepherd which is paras mishbatim the zar and paras mishbatim perish explains veralo shahar shabovah sad Veralo doesn't mean a righteous person who nevertheless suffers which is the way we always understood it sadic they're righteous veralo by the way just as an aside for a moment why why should a saddic have veralo if it were a just world if we're a proper world then shouldn't it be that the righteous prosper and the evil suffer why do righteous suffer and evil ever prosper and the simple answer is to keep us honest in order to preserve serve and maintain what was the very purpose of creation, namely free will. In order for us to have free will, free will means we have equal opportunity to do the right thing or the wrong thing. Now, if the righteous always prosper and the wicked always suffer, do we really have free will? Do we really have a choice ever to do the wrong thing? I always give the example, you're driving on the highway and if there's a wide open highway and on ways you don't see any policemen hiding around the corner. So now you have free will. Are you going to go the speed limit or you going to go over it? the gas pedal and the brake, they're both equally presented in front of you. You have free will what speed you're going to choose. But let's say you're driving on the highway and you're driving right behind the sheriff's car, right behind the police car. Do you really have free will? Are you really going to pass the police car on the left, step on the gas, and fly around him? Yes. Literally, physically, you can press the gas pedal. But that's not the definition of free will. Free will are options and alternatives that present equally. It's not physically whether you can. It means the presentation of options and alternatives. You don't have free will to pass a police car. If you pass a police car, you're a You're ill. There's something wrong with you. You're disturbed. You're psychotic. Why? Because who drives right around a police car knowing the police car is going to put on his lights and siren, pull you over, and hand you a big fat ticket with some points. So, because you see the punishment right in front of you, that suspends, it interferes with your free will. So ordinarily we understand the way I understood saddic veral rasho is why do sometimes the pro the righteous suffer why do sometimes the evil why do sometimes the righteous suffer and evil prosper why because if it were so linear if you do the right thing you're rewarded if you do the wrong thing you're punished who would ever choose to do the wrong thing it would automatically cultivate would automatically motivate to do the right thing and that would remove our free will and removing our free will suspending our free will would defeat the whole purpose the whole essence of creation. So that's the simple way to understand the gar. But that's not what the balatanya says. The balatanya draws from and points to the zor and the zor and the z and the holy in this section of the faithful shepherd says doesn't mean righteous but ra and the truth is the zor is very because vero what do you mean rao? He's righteous but it's bad low. It's bad to him, for him, in him. So the zor understands sadic vo but there's still ra. He's at sadic. He's righteous. He makes all the right decisions. His ledger shows the right balance sheet that he's making all the right decisions. He's at sadic. But ra there is a rah to him still inside him there is a rah. So according to the zor the bad of the saddak who has it bad refers to the inner defect in character. It's not that he's at saddak and yet he suffers is he's at he's making the right choices but to get there he had to suppress the ra that's still in him. So what comes out from the way the is understanding based on the zor is that in these five categories we have veroad vlo and a benon. What are the saddak and the russ and the two categories within veralo. It means you could have a sadic somebody who comes to make the right decisions and lives the perfect life. But ra low he has to suppress the wrong inclination and instinct. There still is a ra low. There still is something inside that's corrupt. this off. There's a virus. There's an inclination to do wrong. He suppresses it. He overcomes it. It doesn't have an influence or an impact. It doesn't. It's suppressed. It's overruled. Yet, it's Ralo. In there, there's a RO at sadic the tovlo. There's the perfect saddic who not only comes to the correct conclusion, but inside him there is no rah. He's a sadic the toll. All there is in his makeup. All there is in his instinct and his inclination. All there is is toflow and conversely you have the same thing with the Russia. There's a Russia the toflow. The Russia is making the wrong decisions coming to the wrong conclusions. Ultimately the decision maker in the Russia is the Russia is the one choosing the wrong thing. But the toflow what he's suppressing is the instinct and inclination to do the right thing. He's overruling and overcoming and suppressing the inclination to do the right thing. And he's a Russia. He's doing the wrong thing. is a rush of a to low inside. Still inside, somewhere in that makeup, somewhere in that matrix, somewhere in that coding, there still is a tove low versus the rush of veralo. The rush of veralo makes the wrong decision and doesn't have to suppress any good inclination or instinct. There is no tolo. All there is is ra. So the four categories based on the zor the alterb is redefined vlo all based on these words of the zor. It doesn't mean the external experience. It doesn't mean the reward of the punishment. It means internally in that makeup. Yes, there's an arbiter. There's a judge. There's an ultimate decision maker of what choice. But what went into that decision? Did anything need to be suppressed? Was anything overruled or was it smooth sailing? Was it unanimous? Was it easygoing? All of this leads to and begs the question if those are four categories, those are the what about that introduces a fifth category known as known as the Benon which is the title of this work. This is the book of the Benonim. Benon by the way I saw translated differently's translation Benoni is the intermediary and in the wonderful work of Rafa Miller he calls the Benon the inbetweeners he calls the book of Tanya the book of the inbetweeners now if you choose the translation of inbetweeners for Benon that's not by accident which we'll see in a moment and we'll and we'll get to so he continues that later in the case of the impulse for good the inst instinct for right and righteousness is their internal judge. That's the ultimate decision maker. Rasheam and Rashe the wicked ultimate decision maker, ultimate arbiter is the their internal judge of what to do in the end of the day is the Russia Benim. Now the Gar introduces that fifth category called the Benon. And what's different about the Benon? There are two judges. They're two orbiters. There's a battle going on between them. So the saddic, the judge, the arbiter, the one who makes the final decision and choice of how to act, what to say, what to think, how to behave is the good inclination. Even though it has to suppress in the case of the saddic, vah low. The Russia, the judge, the arbiter, the decision maker is the Russia. Even though sometimes it has to suppress also inside there is a tove low. The Benoni, the intermediary or the inbetweener, the Benon has two judges, two arbiters. What does that mean? That's what the is now going to go on to try to define the confusion over this term. And it's critical to define it because this is aon. We don't speak of the Benon disparagingly. We're not looking down at the Benoni for the balan. The Benon is the hero of Tanya. The Benon is what we aspire to. Halavi Bayoni. Halavi. We can reach the level of being a Benoni. So if Benon is the goal, if Benon is the hal, then what is it we're trying to do? What is it we're trying to be? So give me two more minutes. Keon. And there the gar tells us says for example me, I'm an inbetweener. I'm a benon. Says to master, you're denying everybody else life. If you're a Benoni, if you the great are what chance, what shop do we have to be a Benoni? What are what are the odds? How how how are we going to possibly do it? So, we need a lot of clarification about this. So, the set up a series of questions. Should we see ourselves as a Russia or not see ourselves as a Russia? Can we really take a note that we're going to be a sadic? What is a sadic? What is a Russia? What is Russia? Russia toll. And then ultimately all that will help us partially through the process of illumination and pro part through the positive process of definition to find what is a what is a what is. Furthermore, we have to understand what turns to God and says, "Master of the universe, you created righteous people and you created wicked people." It's problematic because when the Malik who supervises creation, conception, birth, questions God about the future of a child, the angel doesn't mention in his questions righteous or wicked, what does he say? What does he say? smart or foolish, athletic or or or uncoordinated, artistic or but he doesn't say or Russia. Why? Because God doesn't pre-ordain that. That's the ultimate only thing that's left to us. So how could Eio question God? How could you make sadik righteous and wicked when God doesn't make them? We make ourselves. We choose it. How could Eio assert that Hashem creates righteous people when it's up to us based on free will to choose to be righteous? So the balatanya the alterba has set up all these questions. Sure. A lot a lot of questions. A lot of questions. A stir between what eio challenges God and what the gar tells us we choose for ourselves. A between should we see ourselves as see ourselves as a Russia. The definitions of the four categories versus the fifth. And that's what we'll pick up with next time. We need real understanding of the inbetween orer status. Ra says like me I'm aon I'm an inbetweener. How do we understand? The rabbis understanding of the benon as we said is the scales are even. The saddic a little more good than bad. The Russia little more bad than good. The bayoni 50/50 scales are even exact equal amount of good good decisions and bad decisions. If that's the understanding of Abenoni, asked the Malatana, how could Rabba say I'm a Benoni? You really gonna start to say about Rabba, the great Rabba, that half the time he made mistakes, that the scales were exactly even and equal? Can't be. It can't be. The angel of death couldn't come and take Rabba. Why? Because he didn't stop learning even for a moment. So the great rabbi who was so diligent and such a masid, he didn't stop learning even for a moment. So much so that the angel of death couldn't come get him. How could you say that he was half bad decisions if he was whole time learning? The angel of death couldn't even get him. So when describes himself as a benon, he's not describing as someone who does half the time the wrong thing. So therefore, we have to redefine and re-examine and re understand what is a benon. Particularly if we're going to aspire to be it. And only if we can understand and diagnose. Only if we can formulate and define aon can we begin to understand ourselves. And only if we can understand ourselves can we operate and regulate ourselves in this world. Mashem will pick up with next time.