TRAIN the Animal | Ten Minutes of Meaning | Tanya #42

Good morning, Boca, and welcome back to 10 minutes of Tanya, generously sponsored by Marilyn and Michael. Feed up, please help yourself. Reb Shayala's corner, coffee slushy, pastry, enjoy our 10 minutes of meaning. Of course, we daven for besuros tovos, yeshuos v'nechamos. Zeke yibarech es kol Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael, they should be safe and secure. We are on perek tes. We are on the ninth chapter of sefer Tanya. In the beginning of the ninth chapter, the Baal HaTanya is now been taking all that he's been introducing. The chochma, bina, and daas, what the nefesh habahamis, but the animal soul, the impulse in us, but the chelek Eloka mimaal mamash, the godly soul inside us, literally, and the relationship between the two. Here in perek tes, he's taking concepts and ideas and ideals, and he's crafting a formula and a prescription for life. So, we began perek tes by talking about where they're found within ourselves. In the left side of the heart, the right side of the heart, that the emotion, the animal soul, begins in the heart and tries to get the brain to justify and rationalize and explain and defend, whereas the godly soul starts in the head, chochma, bina, and daas, and it filters down and giving orders and direction to the heart. And then we spoke about we last left off with the left off with the metaphor that the same way you have a city, ir ketana, and there are two kings, two nations who are vying, who are fighting, Ukraine and Russia, for the same territory. Each wants it to be governed by its ruler, by its rules. And who's going to win? Who's going to occupy? Who will it serve? Whose rules will will be the ones that that carry? And similarly, the nefesh habahamis and the chelek Eloka mimaal mamash are fighting over our body. Our body is likened to that ir ketana. And each one wants to be our master, our ruler, and wants the body to follow its rules, its policies, and to worship it. And that's the question, that's the battle that rages inside each and every one of us. Who will win? Who will win? What will define us? How are we identified? Who will be the one who who makes the orders? Which brings us up to how do we now relate between the two? There's a battle over our bodies. Is our body a vehicle for our soul? Are we a body that has a soul? Are we a soul that has a body? Are we driven by ego? Are we driven by Elokus? Our day, from the beginning of our day till it ends, what informs and inspires our relationships, our actions, our thought, our speech? Is it ourselves? Our ego? Our needs? Our pleasure? Our wants? Our honor? Or are we here to serve Hashem? Are we simply an instrument, a vehicle of His will? Is He working for us, or are we working for Him? That doesn't mean we can't enjoy enough pleasure in life. Hashem wants us l'samcha b'chol ha'olam. He wants us to get high on Him. He wants us to enjoy the beauty of this world. But do we do it in the context of having a mission, of being agents and ambassadors of His will? Or do we do it thinking it's all about us? So, now the Baal HaTanya continues here in the middle of perek tes. L'shanosu l'hafkahu mitanu g'lulei avonoseinu l'ahavas Hashem. We should try to tame our darker side, our animal impulse, our sitra achra, the klipa, and in some cases, it can be healed. There are two approaches and two attitudes we can bring to those voices inside ourselves. The voice that says, the voice that says, "Eat and sleep and enjoy this physical world in which you're in." We're not talking about klipa, we're not talking about sitra achra. We're talking about absolute and categorical issur, that which is forbidden. That's just the dark side. There's nothing redeeming about it. But we're talking about the fourth klipa, klipa nogah. We're talking about the animal in us that wants that which we previously called neutral or power of reshus, eating, sleeping, watching a sports game, things that neither are a mitzvah nor an aveira. They certainly are not a mitzvah, they're not counted among tayav, but nor are they an aveira, nor can you point in Shulchan Aruch where it says it's assur to do. But how do we direct it? How do we experience it? What's it all about? So, that, there are two attitudes or approaches we can bring. Two phases are known as hiskafia, which is subduing. We can subdue the negativity, or is'hapcha. Is'hapcha, l'hafoch is to transform it completely. It can exist, but we subdue it, or we can transform it entirely. So, we start. L'shanosu l'hafkahu mitanu g'lulei avonoseinu l'ahavas Hashem. The love from the right side ought to be so powerful that it not only changes, but transforms the left side from seeking worldly pleasure to loving Hashem. In other words, we can train the animal in us. That animal, that drive, that desire for sleep, for food, for pleasure, we're not trying to extinguish it or purge it or obliterate it, we're trying to change it, train it, and elevate it. That's what we have the capacity to do. L'shanosu l'hafkahu mitanu g'lulei avonoseinu l'ahavas Hashem. Now, throughout the Tanya, the Tanya uses that expression ahavas Hashem in different ways and several times to produce different experiences, but they're all aimed at a love that is like a flaming fire. A love that's like being on fire. We read in last week's parsha, we read in this week's parsha. I don't remember what week we're up to. Shabbos Hagadol, Pesach, Vayikra, Tzav, we read eishto mitzvas kurban olah l'socheach ba. The fire has to burn. The ner tamid in shuls is modeled after the eis tamid, the fire that continuously burned on the maracha, on the pyre, on the on the mizbeach, on the altar. It had to burn. And that fire is an image, is a model for what should be in our heart and our soul. We should be on fire, on fire, like the yeshiva and seminary students who are back. They're on fire. They're on fire. We should be on fire. The ahavas Hashem, that love, l'havdil, l'havdil, you ever have a Shabbos meal? Maybe it's a relative, mitzva shem, it's a child, a neighbor, a friend. You have a You have a Shabbos meal with like a couple that just got engaged. It's nauseating. Absolutely nauseating. You have to look away. It's hard to even look. This chosson, this kallah, the way they're looking, their googly eyes, the way they're admiring. It'll wear off quickly after the sheva brachos, but at least for then, it's like this burning fire. This burning fire They're so excited, they think they're adorable. They think they're the greatest thing that ever happened. They see only the best in each other. They're just this this fire. There's this fire that's nauseating to everyone else around them. It's a beauty It's a beautiful nosha. Halevai we should be zocheh to that nosha. We should be zocheh to see that nosha. But it's nauseating. So, love like a flaming fire. The Ribono shel Olam, it's not my language, it's the Rambam's language. And the Rambam is defining yedias Hashem, ahavas Hashem. He calls ahavas Hashem is yedias Hashem. It's a taiva. He describes it like this desire, like this burning flame, like this yearning, like this craving, like this obsession, like this infatuation. It's the way the Rambam describes it. K'mo shekosuv b'chol l'vavcha u'v'chol nafsh'cha. Now, the pasuk says in Sh'ma, pasuk says in Sh'ma, we all have to say it every day, we serve Hashem b'chol l'vavcha. Now, b'chol l'vavcha means with both of your hearts. Because if it meant with all of your heart, to serve Hashem with all of your heart, then it should say b'chol libecha. What's b'chol l'vavcha? All of your multiple hearts. No cardiologists here, they're already at work. They're already at work. But if there were cardiologists here, they would tell you that we all only have one heart. It has four ventricles, but we have one heart. So, what do we mean in Sh'ma when we say b'chol l'vavcha, with all your hearts? We should say b'chol libecha, with all your heart. So, say the says the Gemara, Chazal darshan, bishnei yitzrecha. B'chol l'vavcha, with both of your hearts, means with all of your impulse. Gemara Brachos daf nun dalet. Both the yetzer hatov and the yetzer hara. We can direct both. It's not only the yetzer hatov that serves Hashem. It's not only that we want to daven, we want to learn, we want to do chesed, we want to do everything right and well, and we're nauseously, lovingly engaged to Hashem. Not only with our positive inclination we serve Hashem, even with our yetzer hara, we can transform, we can channel, we can direct, we can transform our yetzer hara to serve Hashem as well. The animal soul just wants whatever it deems to be good. Physical pleasure, I'm reading from Chaim Miller. Physical pleasure, which are tangible and easily experienced, will naturally allure the animal soul, but it can easily be drawn to a higher pleasure, such as meditating on Hashem and feeling His presence. This is the transformation of the yetzer hara to the yetzer hatov. If a person drinks in moderation, makes a l'chaim, elevates their experience, which we do, at a bris, at a pidyon haben, at a wedding, Shabbos, Yom Tov, four cups at a seder, that's what we do. That's what we do. We elevate the experience. Tonight we have our annual men's seder, explain the Haggadah. I believe there are a couple spots left if you haven't signed up yet, at a new restaurant, Mamush. We're going. It's going to have four courses and four different cups of wine and four rabbis giving divrei Torah on the seder. You will leave with a full stomach, but also a full heart, a full soul, and fully ready to come to your seder with divrei Torah. I believe there are a few spots left if you want to sign up. So, we're going to sit tonight, we're going to enjoy four courses and four drinks, but not to be gluttonous and not, God forbid, to indulge in an unhealthy extreme, but to elevate it with divrei Torah, with song, with friendship, with preparing for the seder and the Haggadah. We can engage the physical and enjoy it. It'll be delicious, im yirtzeh Hashem, and plentiful. But enjoy it in a way that elevates and transforms. Use that yetzer hara. So, there's a yetzer hara tonight to sit, to eat, to drink, to be with friends. You could do it in an inappropriate venue. You could do it over inappropriate conversation. You could do it with no boundaries and in the extreme. Or you could take that same yetzer hara, so to say, that drive, that appetite, and you can do it in a way that you elevate. I hope you'll join us to do it in a way that will elevate. V'hinei, sheyaleh v'yavo v'yagiah l'madregas ahavah rabbah v'chibah v'seirah, madregas ahavah ozah, >> This happens as the Balatanya when we elevate ourselves and eventually reach the level of Ahavah Rabbah, Ahavah Rabbah, the great love, which is a more powerful term of endearment than strong love like a flaming fire. The Ahavah Rabbah, the great Where did he go? The great day is coming. The Ahavah Rabbah of the great love as we've seen love like flaming fire is a yearning and a languishing, but great love is the experience of closeness. You feel an intimate rendezvous, an intimate connection, an intimate integration, the intimate presence of Hashem, this incredible connection. I saw, I felt, I heard, I felt heard, I'm in a relationship with Hashem. That's an Ahavah Rabbah. That's an Ahavah Rabbah. One of the paths to the Ahavah Rabbah is by channeling and transforming that animal soul, the yetzer hara. This is a big chiddush. We said it before, but the Alter Rebbe here other than the Ramchal, for example, says the goal is to obliterate the yetzer hara. We get rid of the yetzer hara. We destroy the yetzer hara. We That's what we're chametz, Pesach. Chametz is coming. We're going to speak about this. Talk about the things that we are addicted to, the things that we're doing habitually, that we're struggling to regulate ourselves for. That's the chametz of our lives. That's the chametz that we're trying to trying to get rid of, obliterate, destroy, not even have a mashu of. That's the yetzer hara we're trying to get rid of. Balatanya comes along and he says, "No. No. Absolutely sir, klipah off for sure you got to get rid of. But klipah nogah, this nefesh bahami, we're not trying to get rid of. We're not trying to shacht. We're trying to change train. Trying to train. Where would the world be with no animals? We don't want to get rid of every animal. We want to get rid of the mosquitoes and the flies and the nuisances, but even those serve a purpose. The flies do something. I'm not sure exactly what. They eat things we don't want maybe. I'm not sure exactly what. But they're important to have. The mice are important to have. The cats who eat the mice are important to have. These things are all important to have. You need an ox to plow the field. Now, none of us are farmers, but we rely on farmers to grow what they grow so we could eat. And you need an ox to plow the field. So, the goal is not to shacht and destroy. The goal is to train and have it work and serve us. So, we have a yetzer hara, we have an animal soul, and the goal [clears throat] is to transform it to an Ahavah Rabbah. The path to the Ahavah Rabbah, to this love connection with Hashem, is not to shacht the yetzer hara, but to transform it and to elevate it, to train it, to serve us. This great love is referred to as pleasurable love. Listen Hashem. Listen Hashem is a pasuk. Is a Is a Is based on a pasuk in Tehillim. Listen Hashem to take pleasure in Hashem. Some of us mistakenly were taught Some people think that Yiddishkeit Judaism is all about being miserable and sacrifice and unhappy and give up all pleasure and just serve Hashem. But that that's a That that's malpractice to ever taught that. A Judaism that says give up all pleasure, give up all happiness, give up everything and just serve Hashem, compromise and sacrifice and pain, that's malpractice to teach that. David Melech didn't say that. He said life is Listen Hashem. To quote Reb "Lord, get me high, get me high." But not get me high on a substance, to get high on Hashem. To get high on Hashem. Get high on Hashem. Listen Hashem. The greatest pleasure there is is the source of all pleasure. And when we direct whatever pleasure we experience to the source of all pleasure, then that's the highest pleasure. The love of the flaming fire represents the intense desire to connect Hashem, but he remains distant. But the Ahavah Rabbah, that that highest pleasure, that joy, that connection is not with a Hashem who's distant and we're yearning to come close. That's the connection of coming close. That's the pleasure that we experience and that we feel. That's the Ahavah Rabbah. Neutralizing your desires for worldly pleasure, even your animal soul desires only Hashem. Your love of Hashem is where the love of physical pleasure is for most people. May ain olam haba. It is a foretaste of the world to come. The delight, this oneg, is experienced in the mental faculties of inquiry and intelligence, the sheer pleasure of understanding Hashem. Yes, I saw the chachmah of Hashem. So, the greatest pleasure you can have in Hashem is to know him. The greatest way to know him is to learn and study his Torah. In contrast to the love, kirishpei aish, that's who begins mayim. So, the love of a of of Ahavah Rabbah, that oneg is the chachmah, binah, da'at is in Chabad. But the love of the flaming fire is like the element of water. Like the element of water. We'll pick up with this next week. Fire versus water, different types of love that we can have in Hashem. But the big chiddush is again, the relationship between the godly soul and the animal soul, and the goal was not for one to defeat and eliminate the other, it's to train and regulate even the animal soul to be advancing the love and the connection with Hashem. We're not on next week, it's Erev Pesach. And the next week after that is Yom Tov. But following Yom Tov, we will resume. We should have besuros tovos, yeshuos, and nechamons. Amen.