Tanya (Part 6)

Good morning. Welcome back to 10 minutes of meaning. Generously sponsored by Marilyn and Michael Fedak. So grateful to them for their generosity. Please help yourself to refreshments, coffee, pastry, slushies in the lobby. Should be a meaningful yoma as we continue to pay tribute and thank those who gave their lives for the Jewish people in the defense of our beloved Israel. We're learning Tanya together that we should merit to be at that level to be worthy of being called the Benon. So if it is the safer if it's the book that talks about and describes the merit the virtue and the identity of the benon then we need to define what is a benon and that's what we've been discussing as we begin the safer. So the bala so far has tried to by process of elimination in a sheer k style by asking a series of questions come to define exactly what is a benon. So he talked about in the world there's a saddic, a Russia and a benoni. And the simple understanding, the classic understanding is that if there's a scale and we're evaluing right and wrong, our merits and demerits. So the tadic, the scale is in their favor. They've done more right things than wrong things. The Russia scale is against them. They've done more wrong things than right things. And the Bayon is exactly even. The Balatana says that can't be that can't be what what that gamura means. It can't be what the Bayoni is for several reasons. Ask the uh ask the balatana. Yeah. One is because a can't be somebody who just has one more merit. The scale is tipped just a tiny bit just a little bit in their favor. But more than that, we saw that the garra tells us and we have these five descriptions, Russia, Valo, Russia, and a Benon. What are the different levels within the saddic the Russia and the Benon? And by process of elimination helping us understand who is the who is the Benon. So I spent time on this discussing it with some Rabon who I respect who really understand Tanya. There are multiple interpretations or understandings but here is what I glean. So this is my own consensus or putting them together essentially is the following. The saddic does all the right things. The saddic's evaluated if you look at the saddic you see the saddic makes the right decisions in thought and speech and in action. The saddic is doing all the wrong things. The Russia is making the wrong decisions. As the batanya says, who's the chauffi? Who's the ultimate orbiter? Who's the judge? Where's the command center? Who's making the call? Who's making the decision to do the right thing or the wrong thing? In the case of the saddic, the judge, the orbiter, the engine, the driver is the conscience of good. In the case of the Russia, it's a poor choice, the wrong choice, bad judgment, it's bad. So what's Russia? So the pointed us to the z explains that the key is understanding ver low. It's not some external reward or punishment. Why do bad things happen to good people? Good things happen to bad people. Good things happen to good people. It's not the external why do these things happen to us? But these descriptions are describing what's happening inside of us. Vlo is the person who makes all the right choke calls and decisions lives a righteous life isn't even tempted and doesn't battle by making the wrong decisions but ra still inside them there is a yates the vtolo is somebody who makes the right decision behaves in the right way and is kulo to there is not even an inclination there is not even not only is there no battle or struggle there is no essence there's no source there's no yateser within him the Russia makes the wrong conclusion, the wrong decision that could come because low he's filled with the poor inclination or he's a Russia toll. There is a positive inclination in him but ultimately the judge chooses the wrong. He's a Russia even though tollo and then there's the benon. So where does the bayoni fit in? So I'll illustrate by way of this example which may not be perfect and may not be entirely accurate but it helps me in my understanding is the following. Let's say you have a glass of alcohol. a glass of alcohol. Alcohol is neutral. Outro. Alcohol can be used to elevate. Alcohol can be used to to lower us, demean us, destroy us. Alcohol isn't inherently one or the other. Sadik toflow. The sadic looks at that glass of alcohol. The tovlo and there's only good in him. Only sees in that alcohol the capacity, the possibility to sanctify Hashem, to serve Hashem, to use and utilize it, to elevate themselves in the service of Hashem. How else can it be used or misused or abused? How can it be something negative? What could be bad in it? The saddic doesn't see it. The saddic the to low sadic who only has to in him. All he sees is all he sees is the possibility to serve Hashem with it. All he sees is being drawn to Hashem with it. And he's repulsed by the thought of the opposite. The baltana we'll get to the notion that somebody could use or abuse the alcohol. The saddic vtolo can't even see or relate or understand has no capacity to see it in it. That he's repulsed by it. That sadic valo is not struggling with misusing or abusing the alcohol. There's no battle. There's no struggle. He's a sadic. His inclination draws him only to do the right thing with it. But Ralo, there's a piece of him that heard epis somewhere there's someone maybe there's a possibility there are those alcohol can be used to lower to lessen for the animal soul for something bad. The bayoni looks at the alcohol and says, "Oo, I don't know whether to use it positively or negatively, whether to elevate or demean or get drunk or be intoxicated." There's a struggle. The bayon makes the right decision in the end. The bayon uses the alcohol to elevate, doesn't use and abuse it, but there's a battle. There's a struggle. So again, sad vtolo looks at it or any other example of a yates of the potential and the possibility in this material physical world that sad vovllo only sees alkus only sees god and goodness only sees the possibility to draw close only sees the ability to serve him and in fact is repulsed by the the suggestion of the opposite that sadic veralo doesn't struggle will make the right decision behave the right way without even a battle or a struggle in him is still that ability to help us understand to see to know that there is the possibility to use it not for elus similarly only abuses the alcohol and ra doesn't even see elk the possibility to use it for good and the Russia the tollo uses and abuses the alcohol negatively but toll saw the possibility of elk but didn't go down that path and the bayoni the bayon sees it and says says, "I'm struggling. I don't know which way to go." Makes the right call in the end. How did I come to this? I've been thinking a lot in between the Wednesdays when we learn it together. Believe me, I'm thinking about it because again, I'm trying to grow with it and I'm not teaching Tanya. I'm just learning Tanya out loud. So, in my conversations, try and identify how is the Bayon if the Benoni makes the right decision but struggles to get there. How are they different than the sadic Veral? And if the saddic doesn't even see in this world anything other than being so but how do you reconcile that with that there's no person there is no perfect person that everybody makes mistakes that's built in. So how can you reconcile that with these are the some of the things that we're going to have to continue to unpack as we learn together back to the text back to the itself. So the bal was trying to figure out now what's the so you can't understand this what Miller calls the inbetweener what others translate the word Benon as the how do others translate the word Benon I forgot to bring my benon the saddic is the righteous and the rush is the wicked and the benon is the intermediate thank you so most translate the wordon as intermediate here throughout translates it as the book for inbetweeners. That's not an accident. He could have used the word intermediate. He didn't. He used the word inbetweeners. And we'll see why. It's a great like name for a society. It's a new club of BRS. The inbetweeners. We're the inbetweeners. It's a good it's a good name, the inbetweeners. So to be an inbetweener, to be a ben can't be half and half. It can't be because the quoted the Rabba says about himself sorry the elsewhere says about himself I'm the great sage was a it can't be he was half and half of his time half of his choices were the wrong ones the rabbi was so diligent he studied with such concentration that the when he came for him couldn't take him Because never looked up, never interrupted, never stopped learning for one moment. So somebody who never interrupted their learning, not for a moment that the could get him. If he didn't interrupt his learning for a moment for the Malakovs to get him, when did he do these half of his time sins? So it can't be how could he describe himself as a Benon and a Benon is half and half. There's no way Rabbi was half and half the in the moment you make the wrong choice, you're not a Benon. In the moment you're packing the scale with the bad choices, you're a Russia. Look at the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, eat the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, have the wrong thought. In that moment, with that choice, it's a moment of rush. One is a rush in that moment. If you bounce back, if you repair, if you turn away, if you stop speaking, if you don't eat, so now you've come, now you're there's no inbetweener. There's no status of inbetweener. doing the wrong thing for that moment it's a Russia you bounce back you make the right choice for that moment you're at the gum so how could the benon be this this limbo this inbetweener Russia even if you're violating something seemingly insignificant inconsequential what we would call a lightweight a that's still a Russia points to several sources and so Even if you're not doing the violation, but you see someone else and you have the opportunity to intervene, you have the opportunity to inspire to stop them and you don't even if you haven't done anything, you're called a Russia. So the the whole definitions don't work out the way we've classically understood says about doesn't make sense. If you neglect or forfeit a positive commandment you could have fulfilled any moment you could be filling with learning and you don't. So the batan is building the case for when you violate even not violate even if you passibly forfeit a positive opportunity of a commandment you don't learn Torah in a moment you could have you called a Russia. So this Bayon has done nothing wrong because if they did they wouldn't be a Benon. What would they be? A Russia. So what's left to define the Bayon? We got the Tadic. We got the Russo. Who is the Benoni? Well the Benon please stand up. How do we define the Benon? This is the Raenim Benoni says for us the inbetweeners. So what's a Benoni? And a Benoni can't be someone who did something wrong because then they'd be a Russia. But if the Ben did everything right, why aren't they a So who is the Benon? And that's why Rabba was able to make a mistake about himself and claim he was a Benon. So what did he mean by that? How was he describing himself? Where is the ambiguity in the definition of Benon that Rabba could have presented himself in that way? And that which people think that is one with an equal amount of mistakes and an equal amount of the right thing who shame that represents a when we use the word Benon to describe the scales as even half and half. We're borrowing the term Benon says the bal that's not the actual intrinsic definition of the Benoni. We're borrowing it's figurative. It's imprecise. were borrowing the term Benon there to illustrate something because the Rama had to give rabbis something the dash during and so he said the Benon the scale is half and half punk your next choice you could tip the scale the whole world your next thing when you walk out of here the fire is raging in your shim right now it's a national crisis it's an emergency going on right now so in your so when you walk out of here what you'll do next could impact whether they put out those fires or whether they spread All world the scales are even. Your next act is so significant, so consequential it can tip the scales one direction. So the B says we don't mean the word B when he means the scales are even. You're going to tip them. That's not what it means. We're borrowing the term to inspire. A person is judged by Hashem according to the majority of his either a veros or mitzvah. And he's classified either as a saddic or a Russia. So again, back to what is a who is the judge? Who who is the the core decision maker? The said, "My heart is empty with me." The sadic certainly the saddic doesn't see in the alcohol how you could even use it for bad. All they see all around them and in everything is elus. All there is is elus in people in things in actions and choices in everything. So what does it mean that says annihilated subdued it through fasting he was able to destroy even the presence of any ra in him in him but anybody who's not gotten to that level that they can say I've destroyed I've annihilated the in me all I see all I think all I calculate all I feel is someone who hasn't reached that level even if you look at their ledger and their positive and correct choices far outweigh their wrong and negative ones even if their ledger looks wonderful to be at you purged the like who annihilated it whatever his methodology through fasting whatever else he annihilated ated and purge the itar. But if you didn't purge the if there's a struggle and a battle, if it's still inside you, if you still can imagine, if you still fantasize, if you still have a temptation, if you're still seduced, even if your ledger shows you never gave in, but if each time was a battle, you're not at tells us looked down at this world and he saw there's very few. There's a there's a real um we're going through a real crisis of sadikim. So what did he do? He carefully placed them in every generation. 36 sadikim in every generation. Why? Because he saw there's a shortage. We're going through a shortage. There's a supply chain issue of sadikim. There's a shortage of sadikim. So says the but ific just means that on the scales you have one more right thing than wrong thing. How could there be a shortage? There should be a lot. Should be a surplus. So we've managed to define a Benon by process of elimination. The Benon has not purged and gotten rid of the because then he'd be a sadic. And the Benon is not making the wrong choices and acting out in the wrong way because then he'd be a Russia. So who is the Bayon? Who is the Bayon? And that's what we're up to. We'll just start with one more sentence. So here the reb the alterb is going to describe the benon. Now that we've reduced and deduced and extrapolated and by process of elimination are honed in and focused this benon. He's going to help us understand the benon and help us understand ourselves by diving into the fact that we have two souls. We have two souls. We think we have one soul. Many aren't even aware of. They're not in touch with. they're not communicating with or nourishing their one soul, let alone know that they have two souls. We live in this physical material world. We wake up, we look in the mirror, we think this is who we are. We pamper, we feed, we take care of ourselves. We are a body. And many, most neglect, and don't even know they have one soul, let alone two. Says the at the core of navigating this world, of healing our wounds, of resolving these symptoms, of treating the disease, of what's wrong, is to know that we're two souls. And he teaches us this based on the vital and his who is vital lived 1542 to 1620 was a great cabalist a disciple of the Arizal of rait glory and uh really the the core disciple who captured his Torah and communicated it and taught it to us without which is we would not have access to it. Everybody, the saddic and the Russia, certainly the Benon, every has two souls. Every yet has two souls. Two souls. What the bal call the animal soul, the nephesh bahame, the animal soul, the animal impulse, the animal drive to act like an animal, to live in a pigsty, to eat like an animal, the animal in us that just says indulge, follow your impulse, give in to your instinct, follow your appetite. That's the animal. And the Mamesh, the godly soul, the divine soul that says self-control. You could regulate. You're in charge. You're in control. You can define. You can live your best selves. And there's a confrontation. There's a battle. There's a tension between these two souls. Between these two souls. The impulse and the inclination and the capacity to be sovereign, discipline, and self-control. Ah says and the souls which I made the picks up from this it doesn't say the shama that I made the soul it says the souls the souls there are two complete independent souls in their own right there's one soul that comes from the kipa which is the ego the animal the impulse the appetite the sitra, the other side, you know, we use it even colloquially. Pop culture borrowed it and stole it from us. That notion of the dark side and the other side. That's a Jewish notion, a mystical notion. There's a there's a dark side, there's another side. And that's what we'll continue with. So now the balan is going to help us to find the by talking about the two souls all have and helping us hone in further. What and where does the animal soul come from? How can we contend with it? And then what's our mission and goal with it? So others others believe the goal is to slaughter the animal soul, destroy it. Batana, spoiler alert, is going to teach us that our goal is not to slaughter destroy the animal soul. It's going to be to train the animal. Train and use the animal. If you kill your ox, what are you going to plow with? You got to train the animal and use it to your benefit. And that's how he's going to define not only the ben but our purpose and our mission in life and where we go from here should be a day of Yeshua a meaningful day of and we should be z to bring our hostages home and to be victorious in victory to put out the fires and to turn on the fires of rrook and yishkite. Have a good day.