We have the WRONG IDEA about holiness | Ten Minutes of Meaning | Tanya #33

Good morning bookers and welcome back to 10 minutes of meaning generously sponsored by Marilyn and Michael Fedak. Please help yourself corner to some coffee slushy pastries as we continue per Zion of Tanya. Yesterday was the bala zerite the alterb is zerite. So we continue to learn and draw from his Torah all these many many years later in parak of Tanya. We began by discussing kipas noa. We ended off the last paric talking about the four types of kipos. Three of them categorically bad. A kipa is a husk, a peel. It's something that essentially blocks the light. It's an eclipse. If the or represents the infinite light of the ribon shalom, the great light, the great clarity, the great truth, then the kipa are the actions, behaviors, thoughts, speech that block the light that essentially cloak us in darkness. Something which is forbidden is part of the kipa. It's part of the sitra. It's part of the dark side. The other side it's a husk. It's an eclipse that entirely blocks that light. Kipas noa is a partial eclipse. It's something that can go either way. Kipas no applies to the realm of what we ordinarily otherwise think of as that which is neither forbidden nor is it a mitzvah. It's in the middle. eating not eating kosher food, enjoying as we'll see in a moment, comedy, sleep, all the things that are not categorically good or bad depends on the intention, the thoughtfulness, the mindfulness we have and bring to it. That's kipasnoga. We could redeem and draw or reveal the light of it. Or it can be an eclipse that's covering that light and leaving us in darkness. The whole world is divided as we spoke last week between ego or elocus. When we engage in speech, thought and action with permissible things. We can do it for ego. Why am I eating? Why am I sleeping? Why am I saying? Why am I laughing? Why am I going? Why am I posting? Why am I is it ego or is it elocus? I have a mission. I'm advancing. I'm elevating. I'm positioning myself. So says the says the Madread says the relationship between this fourth kipa and the other three the bright kipa is an intermediate category between the other three. In Natanya's worldview, the closest thing we have to neutral is the experience depending on our thought, our intention. What covenant do we bring to it? Ego. Sometimes no will be absorbed by the three impure kipos and nourish a self-centered consciousness, ego. Sometimes ego, why am I eating? Because my boy, because my appetite, because I want it, because I crave it, because I desire it. Nothing to do with elocus. Nothing to do with finding and seeing Hashem who nourishes us, gives us life, finds life force in what we eat. Nothing to do with wanting to eat so I can be in a happy and a pleasant and a positive mood to be able to learn and connect and serve Hashem. Nothing to do with eating so I can make a braha before and after. I'm eating only for my boy. I'm eating only for my appetite because I want to. That's ego. That's kipa. That's the kipa in kipasa. But sometimes I can do that same permissible thing, but with the right intention, I'm now elevating it. I now uplift it and absorb it into the realm of holiness. Why am I eating? Because who created the world, he created this great food. It's delicious. And when I taste it and when I eat it, when I'm nourished by it, when I draw life from it, I'm connecting with the source of all life. And that's my thought. With every bite I eat and as I chew and as I swallow, I realize what a miracle that is. The human being, the human factory that takes in food and takes out the nutrients and is able to expel what's unnecessary, the waste. And wow, Hashem, you're amazing, your world. So now I've taken that same neutral act of eating and instead of indulging in the kipa, the ego in it, I found the light. I've revealed the light from it. from it. Namely, when the good mixed in it is extracted from the bad, empowering the good to be uplifted to holiness and absorbed by it. I have found the light, revealed the light, exposed the light even within this fourth kipa, this partial eclipse, the kipas noa. This is what happens when we have that mindfulness and that intention, that capacity to live that level of elocus rather than ego. It's not easy. In fact, Stein's commentary here on the Tanya, he says, "Can this degree of awareness and control be demanded of every man?" The Tanya insists yes, this is humanly possible. This is the essence of the Bayoni, the intermediate about whom the book revolves. By no means is it easy, but it is within the realm of possible for every individual. person does not have to be an exceptional human being in order to achieve that. However, it involves a constant effort of unceasing awareness that whatever we do must be toward this aim. And the higher the degree of awareness, the higher the level of holiness that we can attain. It means living a life of mindfulness of intention of presence. It means in everything that we do, every act, every speech, every thought that I'm not simply indulging. I'm not giving into the animal, to the nevish bamei, which is no to the dark of the dark side, but I'm living with that intention, that mindfulness, that presence, that for all that we do that I can elevate it that I can elevate it and says the says, "Lest you think this is reserved for the gdole, but little me, lowly me, the benon, I can't live that way." No, it is. And it is possible. And now the gives some examples. A person who's eating fat meat, marbled steak. I know it's only 8:11 in the morning, but how do you not get excited just by the words marbled steak? Marbled meat. Marbled. Delicious. And you're drinking fragrant, delicious, incredible wine. So why you could sit down to a delicious marbled black and blue steak? Do you know what black and blue is? It's the proper way to eat a steak. Char on the outside, rare on the inside. That's how you know if you're in the right restaurant. When you say, "Can I get it black and blue?" And they say, "What's that?" Then you then you say, "I have to leave now. This is the wrong place." If they know what that is, then you're in the right place. black and blue charice char on the outside rare on the inside marbled steak and with it a delicious glass of a fragrant a nice aged wine a proper wine a red wine to go with your meat with your steak and why are you eating it writes why to broaden your mind for hashem in his now here's the thing here's what I love about what the alterb writes here in parag he doesn't write you're eating it you don't really want it you'd be satisfied with bread and water you're You'd be okay with eating the bare minimum. Why are you eating it? Because the braha that you make on it, you're finding the elocus in it. No, he says you're eating it because you like a good steak and a good wine. But why do you like the good steak and the good wine? Because it brings a calm and a happiness and a joy. And now you're going to be a better husband, a better wife, a better mother, a better father. You're going to have a better kusa. You're going to go learn more Torah that night. You're going to be a better volunteer. You're going to give more talking. You're going to do more. He doesn't say you're eating it and drinking it because you're finding that locus in it. That's a very difficult high level to live. Says this every one of us can because when we sit down and we make that on that black and blue delicious steak when we make on that incredible glass of wine, what we have in mind, the we have wow I live in your amazing world and this amazing world that you put me in has such pleasure and such goodness. And the reason I'm recognizing you in it and I'm grateful for it because it will leave me happier, healthier, holier, and more ready to serve you says that wine and fragrance sharpen a person's mind. or you're sitting down on Shabas and let's say you happen to be you can't be because I already am married [clears throat] to the greatest Shabas cook on the planet earth the daughter of a great Shabas cook a jant cook so when you sit down to that incredible absolutely outstanding amazing everything they touch is perfect food you say this is giving me on shabas this is on shabas you're not saying epis a little all I really need is a little water I don't need it I don't want it I shouldn't have it you're saying it's amazing and it's delicious and I'm enjoying it in moderation, in a healthy way, the right amount. Leave all that aside for a moment. Never leave it aside, but leave it aside for a moment. It's a healthy way. But what you're finding in it is again the on shabas. I'm I'm not reading this into the Tanya. These are the words of the alterb of the balata that you're not meant to or expected to to live some aesthetic life, some perfect life. It's to find in the physical the pleasure, the joy, but to recognize that that positions you to serve Hashem, to appreciate Hashem, to be blessed and grateful to be in his world. The on Shabas. So when you make another plate, when you go back for seconds, when you're enjoying what you're having and you say Shabas and you're on the on the on the it's Shabas that I'm enjoying this incredible another piece with a great dip. I'm having another bowl of the chicken soup. The mat was outrageous. The meat and the wines energy is refined. So now you took the marbled meat. You took the fragrant wine and instead of it being a lowly animal base stuff your face indulgence, you turned them into a carbon. You turned them into into you turned it into. Now you all of a sudden you elevated it. How? How? Simply by saying, "Oh, Hashem, you're amazing, and this food is amazing, and the gift of it is amazing, and it comes from you, and it connects me to you, and it positions me more now and better to serve you. I'm happier. I'm healthier. I'm enjoying the company of whoever I'm with. And I'm blessed to be in a position to pay this outrageous markup on that steak and on that wine. And thank you for that." And that is finding the light, the orin in the kipasa. It is finding the light in that partial eclipse. And then the gives another example. It's funny. I wouldn't have given this example. I would have thought of sleep. You go to sleep and you say, "Oh, what a gazlt. What a h amazing." You wouldn't say, "I don't really sleep. I don't want to sleep. I sleep better." No. But he doesn't give this example. He gives another example. Humor. Humor. A good joke. A good joke. Comedy. Humor. So you say why am I listening to comedy clean of course appropriate. Why am I listening to comedy? Why am I singing humor? Because it sharpens my mind and it puts me in a joyous mood to serve Hashem. So lest you think I I heard a comedy showman. What a waste. What kind of a brings in such a comedian if they're appropriate but it's going to make you laugh and that laughing. [snorts] It's going to let you relax a little bit in the stressful life and the world in which we live in which there's such anxiety and the mil is going to let you be a better why because the jokes were laced with with and galdic if you found such a comedian. But even if you can't because the comedy and the jokes made you laugh you enjoyed the company of who you were with because as the writes the it sharpens your mind and it puts you in a joyous mood for Hashem his Torah and his worship. So you say, "Oh, from here I'm going back to the I'm going to my where there's a after the event, after the show and my was relaxed, because I laughed, because I lived because comedy is medicine and it restored my my soul and my sanity, which ought to be carried out joyously. So lest you reject and you say you know if you're really hashem you walk around like this sad and and miserable and you look down and you're that's an Hashem you have to you have to be oh introvert and sad and looking down can't ever smile if you smile you're not a real hashem the alterb the balatana is writing us he's giving us license giving permission and he's not giving it rava did the shabas tells us rava opened every shar with a joke every year with a joke a little humor a joke because When the people who attend that year sat back, they laughed, they smiled. Now they're ready to learn. Now whatever you're going to say, now it can penetrate. Now it can get in. Now it can get in. They were closed. They were anxious. They were worried. They were miserable. They were frightened. They were scared. Now you told them a relax. Good joke. Comedy is the best medicine. It's medicine. So So the says a good joke. A good joke. Good comedians know that they're doing a mitzvah. And in fact, that's what the Gumar tells us. The Reba doesn't quote it. Stein does, others point out. The Gumar says Leoi who's going to Mahaba points to the two in the in the shook in the marketplace who put a smile on people's face, the comedians, those who tell the jokes, those who bring the smiles. Barashem, we have good people and they and they make us laugh and they [snorts] and they take the edge off. And at the end of a stressful day, you you happen to catch on their status or whatever it is and and you find something. Again, it should be clean, should be appropriate, should elevate, not bring down. But if they can make you laugh and laugh even at ourselves, then then they elevate. Then it's a then they open us up. They open us up. >> They open us up [clears throat] like the most popular. I mean, I was thinking I was thinking more about my friend Dovi and Milan and others. But yeah, maybe you too. Maybe you too that they they could put a smile on a face and they open up your heart and they let in the messages that otherwise are getting shut out because we have this this hard uh shell around us. Isn't it amazing? That's what the alterb chose to give us the example eating and drinking. I get that's where we all would have gone first. After that I would have gone to maybe sleep, travel, recreation, sports. Second example is comedy. It's comedy is humor. Comedy and humor is is for the bayoni can be serving not the ego but the elocus. It should be the introduction for every comedy show that the elus not ego that here we are before the comedy before the before the jokes before the laughter before the medicine that we need. If we can't laugh at ourselves and we can't laugh I don't know how we get through. I've shared before. I've been on on podcasts. They ask me, "How do you get by? What do you do for fun? What whatever." And I say, you know, I I like to listen to comedy. I like to listen to good kosher comedians, but I laughter is the best medicine. And if we don't laugh, and if you ask yourself, when's the last time I laughed? When's the last time I left? When's the last time I laughed out loud? Not I wrote LOL back to someone in a text, but actually laughed out loud. Laughter is medicine. It restores the soul. I'm not telling you if you have a choice between putting on a shear and the comedy you should put on the comedy. But if you're already not going to put on I often drive back from a funeral unveiling that I do and I listen to a few minutes of comedy. It restores life. It's medicine for the soul and I feel better. He says it sharpens your mind, puts you in a joyous mood to serve Hashem, his Torah and his worship. And that's why Ra understood and knew to go there and it gives you all. That's who's going to bring Alaba. people who put smiles on other people's other people's faces. So Torah doesn't require us to desist from worldly activities. That's the message of the he doesn't say how do you serve alus not ego minimize your eating and drinking minimize your smiling and laughing minimize your sleep minimize your shopping minimize your travel and that's how you serve. No he says enjoy it but enjoy the alocus in it not the ego of it. enjoy it because you're directing and channeling it and positioning you to be a better hashem from it. That's how you find that's how you find turn it into a and this turn it into sharpening your mind and laughing and smiling and being ready to serve Hashem. But if on the other hand, if you're a gorge on meat and you guzzle wine, if you're gluttonous in your attitude, you don't make a bra before, you don't make a bra after, and you didn't do it because you want to be happier and serve Hashem better, and now you're going to be in a better mood, and now you could do more, better husband, a better wife, a better mother, a better father, a better son, a better daughter, a betterem. That's not why you're doing it. Why are you doing it? Because I want to I want to gorge. I I want to be a glutton. I want to stuff my face. of I want to satisfy the desire of the body and the animal soul. If you do that, you haven't turned the meat into a carbon. You became an animal. What you did is instead of being the you didn't become the that turned the meat into a you became a lowly animal that dragged the meat down into complete negativity of the three impure kipos. Meaning if you indulge the kipos noa and the darkness of it, you put it in the category of the first three kipos. Whereas if you find and reveal the light of it, you take it out of kipasnoga and you elevate and you elevate. So all of this is determined by whom? Us. The object or the act is inherently neutral. We choose through our mindfulness or mindlessness through our intent or lack of intent. We determine the value of it and we can either elevate it and we are elevated by it or it lows us and lessens us. Now the of this I'll just end by repeating it yet again. To me the of this is we always heard this and we always knew parts of this but again it's the balatan's examples of it because I always thought what does it mean to elevate it? What it means to elevate it is to eat it like ravicha to eat it like ra to eat it like a person bare minimum. You're just doing it to to serve Hashem to survive. You know, you fast from week to week and only eat a little bit on Shabas. And that's inevit says about no black and blue marbled steak, a glass of red wine, a good comedy, a good laugh, but that you're doing that to be a better Hashem. It's opening you up. You're enjoying. You're seeing Hashem. You're finding and that is still a high level. We'll pick up next week. Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.