Tanya By Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz Chapter 25 - It is "Very Easy" to awaken the hidden love for G-D.

welcome to tonight's Tanya class and I got to tell you I'm very excited by tonight's class I'll tell you why because in doing research for this class preparing the class I learned something which I never knew and that is that the Reb's father who was a cabalist a what he was a cabalist the re's father who was a cabalist famous cabalist wrote many books in cabala he instructed his son the rebi on the day of his wedding to study this chapter of Tanya oh and this is the chapter this is the chapter so if the rev's father instructed him to study this chapter on the day of his wedding and we know the day of wedding is a very very powerful and important day and every studi this chapter on the day of his wedding out of all things he could have studied right this vast amount of libraries of books to study T and specifically this chapter there must be a nice treasure right otherwise why would you tell them to study it so I think that that should add excitement to the class knowing that there's some major treasure now the truth is there really is um when you study the chapter now you'll see what why perhaps uh at least from our perspective because he didn't give a reason but you might understand why he instruct him to study this chapter that's as follows in the introduction to Tanya the alter in the cover page writes the reason why he's writing the book and he writes over there I'm going to teach you how to serve God yeah with love and awe that means to really be have a great uh loving relationship with God not a functional functional is important too but more of a loving relationship with God to be in awe your emotion should be connected and you might think oh my gosh how am I gonna do this it's huge and he says no no and he based on a verse in the Torah this is very very easy to you so this chapter the Altera says and we' S discussed already several chapters ago this is the culmination and today we're going to learn how each and every every one of us can serve god with love and awe very easy we all want easy who doesn't want easy right so several chapters ago the alterist started and said you know how you do it by meditation and meditation we know is not easy you you have to you got to study you have to what to meditate you have to actually meditate so then the alra said ah there's something else we all have a love for God but the problem is something that's covered up that's right it's covered up so the last few chapters we spoke about the whole idea of Oneness of God here the author he ties it all together he says I'm going to teach you today how you can serve god with love and awe that's easy wow isn't that exciting if we can learn that imagine all day long from the morning to the night you're in a loving relationship with God but in a real passionate loving relationship with God and you're all of God and it's easy to do that and you have to realize God is a has a big list if you want to have a relationship with God guess what get get online get inline not online inline mean to say you have 248 positive Commandments you got to do 365 you can transgress IT addresses every issue from when the from when you wake up till you go to sleep throughout the week throughout the month throughout the year but we can do this in a loving way and so this is what we're going to learn today so the alter explains how we can do this and he says as follow us the reality is every single Jew no matter what level of observance or commitment to Judaism when you push them against the wall and say hey are you with God or not guess who they're with with god with God nobody will say I'm not with God up to the point and we know Millions went to the gas Chambers this way if you say listen if you say that you have nothing to do with God you don't believe in God I'll let you free otherwise I'm going to kill you what is every Jew going to do without exception kill me in Hebrew it's called m nees he's willing to sacrifice his life for God in English what's called you put against the wall and that is clear that's not even a question so the ARA says one second why would you do that is that logical is that is that logical because you can make a logical calculation let me say you know what I don't believe in God I have nothing to do with God this way I'll stay alive and When the Smoke Clears I'm back on track and I'll continue serving God so if you make a logical calculation you might actually transgress whatever they're asking you to do and the answer is why wouldn't anyone do it because it's not a logical thing it's not a 1 plus one two it's not something which makes sense it doesn't make sense it's a soulle commitment that nobody wants to get disconnected from its source and the minute you put someone against the wall he will go and self-sacrifice my NE and he's saying I'm not interested logically not logically Shalom welcome come have a seat here either side not not make sense it doesn't make sense it's not a logical thing a Jew does not want to be disconnected from God and think about it look through history and look at your own life if someone put you against the W you say no no no I'm willing to negotiate in everything but not what not with God so the Altera says take this logic or this irrational logic and now we're going to apply it to all the other areas of your life so in other words and he starts let's start with the um 365 negative Commandments God says don't do this don't do that again the whole list 365 you shouldn't do now the reality is why do many of us transgress whether it's one two 5 10 100 irrelevant the number why do we transgress those if we don't want to be disconnected from God and by transgressing something which God told you please don't do that so when you actually go do that you're trans disconnecting from God why would we do that and as we discussed last week and maybe the week before as well um more last week because something which is called in Hebrew Ru in other words it's clouded it's dark so to speak the lights off and you don't realize and see that by transgressing you are severing the relationship for that moment for that hour for that week whatever the time that you're going that you're transgressing God it's really the r it's blocked over and you don't see it so it's almost like the light is off so the Au is very simple so we're going to put the light on in your life and we're going to have an awareness that just like when it comes to God forbid putting um a block between you and God you're willing to literally put yourself to death just to say I with God take that and apply it to every time when it comes to one of the 365 negatives and even whether it's small or big but to realize that anytime you transgress one of the 3 negative Commandments you are disconnecting with God guess what you're not going to do it why very simple because on a scale from 1 to 10 let's say someone says to you hey are you with God otherwise I'm going to kill you kill me I'm with God so on a scale from 1 to 10 if God to somebody kill you whether they use a knife or a gun or you're beaten whatever it may be how people put people to death what's the pain in in the death process 1 to 10 you're not you're going to be with God there's no death no I'm talking that when someone God forbid kills you because you're sticking with God what kind of physical pain is there 1 to 10 none one 10 plus someone someone murder someone right someone murder someone you're death you're dead there's no more pain that's after you're dead he talk about after you dead but if while someone is try trying to kill you or killing you huh getting stabbed hurts getting stabbed hurts exactly well we have to pick the mode of death I mean it could be irrelevant the mode irrelevant the mode there's intense pain now whether it's for two seconds or the pl the pain depending on what type of death it is whether it's two seconds a minute an hour or hours could be could be tortured to death too right as many Jews unfortunately were the pain from 1 to 10 is 10 plus whatever the plus is right and it's like off the charts now intense pain but think about it you're willing to go through that pain why because I am not going to disconnect myself from God you will take intense pain 10 plus wow what's the logic there is no logic because I am not disconnecting with God we are not disconnecting from God therefore pain 10 plus or 100 plus it doesn't make a difference that doesn't come into the equation it's not a logical thing so look you're a hero you are willing to take pain which you would never normally take just because you want be disconnected so the alter says let me ask you a question let's say you're confronted with a Temptation for desire to to go against any one the 365 commandments so whether for example whether it's eating something non kosher or a forbidden relationship or maybe Shabbat something about Shabbat and again there's 365 negative commandments so there's plenty to go down the list so obviously there's a certain enjoyment in transgressing otherwise you wouldn't transgress now if I tell you don't transgress so obviously not only is that you're not going to get the enjoyment of doing that free thing that you wanted to do that you think is free you're also going to experience some pain if I tell you don't let's say for example you want to eat something which wasn't kosher I say don't eat it now you were looking forward to this whatever it may be right now so not only you're not going to have that enjoyment but you're going to have like pain right for having to resist so the AL say very simp oh you know I got it painful right because you wanted to do something and now now you're GNA have to hold back from doing it which is pain from 1 to 10 what do you think it is now remember death is 10 so what do you think resisting some kind of temptation just one just one three a three for you okay six a six okay you must have something good in mind okay that's fine yes oh yeah just thinking of something good to whatever whatever it may be that's fine that's fine what give thr a number could be a seven could be a seven okay there we go we have some okay I'm I'm I'm okay with that it could be a seven dep isn't the Temptation I got it one to 1 to 10 said R 3 to six three to six okay I got it so we have anywhere from one right three to six the four and six and seven I got it nobody got past seven okay now look at this for a 10 was not even negotiable in a Flash I'm not doing it 10 plus 10 plus here we barely got to six and seven right we barely got the six and seven most people were under under under the five right close to 3 to one um I didn't ask you you're going to bring the average down right okay or you're going to bring it up all right the point is the point is the alus is very simple when it comes to any one of the 365 Commandments the pain is not great so why can't you resist that pain if you can handle pain if you're willing to take pain of a 10 plus so why can't you handle the plane of a one for sure you can handle right three three to six six or seven you can handle that I'm not saying it's not painful yes it's painful whether it's a one or three or six or a seven but it's something you can handle so since it's something you can handle handle it what's the problem the problem is Al says very simple because you're focusing on the pain you're not focusing on the fact that you're disconnecting with God see when someone puts you against the wall hey are you willing to denounce God or not so what are you focusing on I'm not willing to disconnect from God now pain could be intense but you don't care about the pain because the focus is on disconnect when I tell you don't do that what are you focusing on right now on the pain so because you're just focusing on the pain that whether it's a one or a three it becomes unbearable because you're just focusing on the pain what I say to know don't do that not because I don't I want you to have pain because I don't want you to be disconnected from God and you don't want to be disconnected from God and I say shift to your things do you want to be disconnected from God you say absolutely not they don't do it that also becomes easy see it's it's a shift in perspective when it's life and death hey are you with God are you going to be put we're going to put you to the dead I'm with God put to dead so even though the pain is huge I'm not focusing on that part because the the disconnection from God is so important to me that I'm not it doesn't make a difference what level the pain is versus where's the r where's the covering up when you when you don't realize the disconnection and you're focusing on I don't want the pain I'm going to have it I'm going to go do it correct Al shift think about anytime God forbid one of the issues of 365 negative Commandments come up say is this giving me a disconnection from God I'm not doing it why what non-negotiable anything that disconnects me from God I'm not doing it so what happens now anytime there's one of the 365 Commandments on the table what are you thinking about you could have it or you can't have it or you think might disconnected from God or not very simple if you think about whether you could or you can't you're trouble cuz that's a real struggle and you're going to be thinking about whether it's a 1 3 5 6 or seven you're going to be thinking the pain and you're going to be a hard time to resist but if you think disconnect from God no you don't even you don't even engage in it if it's disconnection from God there's no engagement into a discussion or a feeling whether what level it is so know the AL say based on this guess what it's easy why because what am I focusing on I don't want to be disconnected from God and as long as I'm focusing I don't want to be disconnected from God guess what you won't be disconnected and the 365 negative will come easy so that is on the negative Commandments let's bring it over to the positive commandments so here we have 248 positive Commandments now the reality is like this the Commandments that God gave us we meant to do and enjoy them now the 248 positive Commandments are all stuff that we need to do and not only that because with stuff that we have to do and we are human beings and one of the features that we have is because we're created from you know we're created from four elements fire ear water and Earth and we know fire goes up right water is taste taste ear right spirit and we have one element that we all created out of and that is called Earth right we're all made out of Earth now because we're made out of Earth it created a certain thing in our DNA our personality our our being and that's what the alter discussed in the beginning of Tanya and that is the attribute of what abute in English means what to be lazy so every one of us have a default setting it's that's our DNA we're created from Earth Earth what is Earth sits on the ground you ever see Earth moving guess what there's a part of us don't want to move you get up in the morning right snooze right or you don't even set the alarm clock to begin with that's the Earth part in us that is the Earth part in us that is the laziness in us so we by not all not the whole part of us but there's a part of us 1/4th and again made out of four elements but 1/4 and every everyone is different and so on and so forth but the point is that there is a component in us that's lazy so if I tell you do a Mitzvah so what am I up against the laziness that we have because doing a Mitzvah means I have to go do the Mitzvah guess what it's naturally easier because of the concept of Earth to sit on the couch or sit in the chair and this like flips and channels not do anything entertain me do it for me right so God says do this do this and he has a long list 248 positive Commandments now what's stopping us from doing it simple we're lazy we're not bad people well some people maybe but let's say we're not bad we're good people we want to do anything but guess what we're fighting our nature we're lazy so in order for us for example to do a Mitzvah let's take for studying Torah right studying Torah is a positive commandment and when do you have to study Torah 247 unless you have an exemption you're busy doing something else productive um wearing Fillin Shabbat whatever it may be this right 248 positive Commandments but the problem is what's the problem very simple you're lazy so it's not that we want to do something even bad we just don't to do anything so here whether it's prayer right prayer prayer is work especially for a lazy person Torah study is work giving charity is work helping other people it's work you can't say it's not so it's easy to sit back and what do nothing sit back and do nothing so the alterist says I agree it's let's be honest it's easier to sit back and do nothing and God is coming to us to say do this Mitzvah it requires work it requires effort it requires sometimes even maybe pain right to get up out of the couch is painful correct and to go up and do help somebody might be very painful cuz you know we're selfish we think about ourselves that's that's part of the way God created us so it's work so the AL says let's go back to our analogy if God not if a human came to you and says to you are you willing to denounce God other I'm going to kill you what we say before hey kill me pain one to 10 we said it's 10 plus okay the effort to do a Mitzvah on a scale from one to 10 we're going to do this again right so I say get up and do a Mitzvah now obviously we're all lazy part of us and obviously we have certain mitas we're happy to do but C we all have certain mitzah we like doing that's the fact it's not all of them but let's say there's some of them that we have a hard time doing or we have hard doing a lot of it so something stopping us whether from learning Tor more than we know we all let's say for example like learning but up to a point then we say enough or we like praying up to a point then enough or charity up to a point then enough or doing other mitv helping people so at some point we get to the point which goes out of our comfort zone what does that mean it becomes now painful to do it so you say I'm stopping so from 1 to 10 what's the level of pain if I say to you do this but you're not really in the mood of doing it but you have to push yourself to do it 1 to 10 how much would the pain be three okay one I'm going five five okay that's fine I had a three but now even more painful no problem yes four okay three three five okay so we got anywhere from one to five we didn't and by the way it's true by the way on the negative it's harder than the positive which is 100% true so you see so requires effort and from 1 to 10 yes the highest we got was a five right we got them at one and threes and we got the most we got a five all right so now so what do you see from here what does the AL say hold on when it came to put yourself against the wall mysterious neish you want to go for a 10 plus plus out of the charts right home run out of out of the field right there's no way that bull is coming back you're willing to do that but when it comes to make a little effort 1 3 five Mak sense you're not willing to do it what's the logic yeah and the answer is the AL says very simple like we discussed last week you don't realize by not making this little effort you're not you're not connecting to God so if you focusing oh my gosh I got to do this on the effort guess what whether it's a one three or five that becomes your whole life and becomes so huge that you can't do it but if you say Hold On by me getting up right now and doing this Mitzvah am I connecting to God versus I don't do I'm not connecting to God so I'll be disconnected we're we're connecting now if it's effort whether it's one three and Far big deal who cares about the effort it's it's nothing compared to giving my life for God so the same analogy author says works with the Positive Commandments think for a moment right now you have an opportunity to study Torah pray do a Mitzvah and yes it's going to require effort but this effort hails in comparison to God forbid dying what's the issue the problem is here you're just focusing on the effort oh it's so hard no no no wrong lens the question is very simple right now you have an opportunity to connect to God and not to be disconnected no problem I'll do anything effort who cares about the effort because the focus is on the connection and disconnect so in other words therefore the Alterra says very very simple if you want bring it back full circle to observe all the Commandments the negative 365 the positive 248 and you want to observe him with love and all for God guess what focus on the fact that when you do them you're connecting to God and God forid if you don't do it you're disconnecting to God and if you focus on the connect and disconnect it's going to be just as easy and much easier thanes where your life is on the line cuz as we said it's one to five in one way and the other it's one to maybe six or seven but the other way it's much greater much harder so you see you willing to do something harder the difference is because you're focusing on the pain versus on the connect or disconnect now what happens when a person focus on the connect disconnect what he realizes is very very simple what's important to him is two things one is that anytime you connect to God via Torah mitzvot and prayer a you're you're you're staying connected that's Point number one you want that connection the key word is connection and number two is that when you actually make the effort and you do the positive or make the effort and don't transgress the negative not only are you connecting and staying connected but the connection is an infinite connection because you us finite beings are connecting with the infinite power of God so when a person meditates not only meditates you just have that awareness I want to be connected and I want to be connected to the infinite power of God guess what happens now it's very easy it's very easy so here the AL says hold on great it's wonderful but it's always good to know the enemy what's the enemy the alterate quote brings down from the tal the tal says like this that there are three mitv that it's very very hard not to transgress every day three of them what are the three of them one is to think about doing a sin why very simple because we know that you can do and you can not do you can speak and not speak so what's the best way not to get into trouble don't do anything right or don't say anything which is not easy but it's still you can you can you can be in a place of not however your mind is constantly working so because your mind is constantly working you have to be constantly directing it into good places because the minute you're not busy directing it guess what happens it's open it's like having a computer open on the internet with no virus protection you know how quick you're getting hacked and they're stealing all your emails right but what's the point the point is you have to have constant and consistent protection so in other words so because your mind is always working so it's really the AL says you have to be like literally a policeman for your thoughts 247 247 now that's not easy that's not easy think about it 247 the mind is working and for two minutes I wasn't paying attention almost asked I got this erroneous thought I saw something and all of a sudden it it triggered something in me or somebody tried to sell you something obviously wrong in other words the point is that since your mind is constantly working it's something which every single day it's pretty tough if you can get through a day if you can get through a day that you did not think I didn't say do what speak did you not think anything inappropriate guess what that's a good day that's a good day that's issue number one the atment says issue number two the says concentration in prayer why is that think about it when you're praying what are you doing you're trying to develop a relationship with God now prayer this lip service you say the words but prayer really is to meditate to think now what what happens is it's very very hard to constantly think about God the whole time as we discussed before so since it's hard to think you let's say you sit down for pray for an hour if you get in five or 10 minutes of solid prayer that's amazing and the other let say another 20 30 minutes of here and there but there's parts that you just mind wanderous I mean it's very very it's a reality right so that's the second thing if you're able to pray every single day and really focusing on prayer and not Veer off that was a good prayer now again the tman says it happens so don't be Harding yourself just get back on track the third is har is what gossip tal says if you can get by a day without gossiping that was a good day now everyone knows that's tough because the keep keep your mouth shot not easy for many people for everybody according to the Tet day goes by and we all know that the laws of are huge has a huge in depth what what cons what constitute lashara and really is just talking about somebody else the person's not there I mean it's amazing how you can in a second transgress and what happens is it happens to be an enjoyable thing people like talking right people like talking about other people rather themselves because it's much easier to talk about someone else than yourself so you naturally fall into that trap and literally from the holiest and the best people fall into a trap of lashara and it happens to be it literally makes them very very ugly now thear works fulltime to make sure we speak lashara now so what happens very simple we know God gave us protection for everything we have to use the protection so what's the protection God gave us very simple he gave us a Mitzvah to study Torah now we know every Mitzvah has a set time in place Shabbat is once a week Kash is food Etc mza is the you know the scroll a certain place certain place in the door goes F and so every Mitzvah is defined very specific when you wear it what it's made out of Etc there's one Mitzvah that has no limit which one is that studying Torah we have an obligation to study Tor when always always means when always 24/7 now obviously you have an exception to sleep to go work if you need to take care of your kids family business whatever it may be but what does that mean but that's an exemption if you're not doing anything that's a qualified exemption you should be busy what studying Torah now so you're sitting and studying Torah and all of a sudden a thought enters your mind about somebody else and you start talking lashar guess what why are you talking L because you're not studying Torah and when you're talking LC exactly disconnecting so what happens is how often does it happen that we don't study Torah when we're supposed to often right what does the AL say how often we don't study to we're supposed to too often more than once a day maybe more than Twi twice a day do the one to 10 thing again I don't want no I don't want to embarrass anybody we'll leave that in private analogy right we can do that but everyone knows that that what the number is it happens several times a day so oh my gosh we got a big problem here because what happens is right now when you're not studying Torah and for sure if you talking lashara guess what are you connected to that moment because we are finite human beings so if we have finite human beings with a finite time schedule if if if we're connecting at this moment with God we're connected so it means we're studying Torah any moment you're studying Torah really what you're doing is by studying Torah when you put in perspective what are you doing when you study Torah you're connecting to God are you doing a Mitzvah you're connecting to God you're praying you're connecting now if there's a moment that you're not studying Torah and not only you're not studing you're talking guess what happened right now you're disconnected so there so there's like blocks in your day hopefully small blocks or Pebbles right but there's there's spots in your day that you're disconnected from God oh my gosh so Al says that's why in the prayer service three times a day we do the three times a day in one of the prayers is we ask God please forgive us so the Ala says forgive us three times a day you asking God to forgive you I mean you ask him once to forgive you so why you ask him a second time you sin between Shak and you sin again between I mean if you're sincere asking God to forgive you once a year once a month once a week once a day three times a day I mean how many times a day could you sin and the auor says exactly because since probably between you didn't study every minute and you got this disconnected let's focus on you got disconnected between you got disconnected also some point and again you got disconnected so therefore since you're getting disconnected so God please forgive us we're human you know we I didn't do it intentionally but my mind wanders my mouth you know sometimes it has a loose tongue so I'm asking God forgive me not because I'm intentionally but the reality is because our mind wanders we ask God to forgive us so that we can reconnect and start again the connection so we do have like even today with the best interconnections guess what right the spots where it drops or you have a cell phone you have the places where the cell phone also disconnects because there's no perfect connection we're human we have disconnects but guess what comes God please forgive me and you're really sincere you're back and you're back and you hope you don't get no drop calls right you hope you don't get disconnected and we had a few drop calls right a few disconnects all right comes my God forgive me we're back on track see what it does is two things when you ask God to forgive you it's creating an awareness in yourself a to acknowledge the fact that you got disconnected but also a commitment to try not to get disconnected and that keeps on going through three times a day and if you actually say this from and you really mean it guess what you'll be more aware and it will be easier for you over to overcome not to get disconnected obviously the next time you want to unfortunately disconnect so knowing that will make sure that you stay connected obviously to God in an infinite way now so ultimately we want protection you know knowing the problem is great but we want to have protection to to have this in our Consciousness so so that we could be totally always connected to God very easily so the said that's why mosenu instituted to the Jewish people when when they went into the land of Israel until today we do it is to say the shma Israel right here Israel twice a day twice a today um so the says why why did mosha instruct the Jewish people entering into the land of Israel to say shma twice a day the fact as we know what does it say in the shma the beginning of the shma the first section ofma the first line in the first paragraph that you should love you God right with your whole heart and soul and means even if he's willing to take your life which basically you're you're you're making a statement that you're willing to go and self sacrifice not to get disconnected from God that's the essence of the shma the first the first verse and the first paragraph which is saying which is say I'm willing to connect to God and I'm I'm not willing to disconnect even if it means God is going to take my soul I will not get disconnected from God so the alter says hold on a second when the Jewish people went into the landine of Israel at that point when they conquered the land guess what the fear and the dread of God was all over the world the Jewish people was so connected to God it was unbelievable so why did God why did M instruct and say twice today so the AL says because Mo knew that it wasn't only about self-sacrifice of total disconnection from God but Mo knew that in order for a Jew to not only observe all the Commandments and not God forbid disconnect through the negative Commandments a person had to remember consciously the shma which says I do not want to get disconnected from God and willing to put my life on the line in other words which applies to us today also we can study and pray and do mitv and not transgress but if we don't have the shma etched in our hearts and our souls by meditating when we say it twice a day that we are willing to sacrifice anything to be connected and God's would not to be disconnected from God we will not have the power to overcome the temptation even a simple Mitzvah or in a simple transgression so in other words MOS was giving a lifelong will to each and every one of us say the shma twice a day when you say the shma what do you to meditate very simple I want a deep connection with God and B I didn't want this connection and I'm willing to sacrifice my life just like if someone was telling to me hey are you with God or not and I'll say I'm totally willing to sacrifice life just for sake of God and that if you keep that in mind consciously and you attach it to not only disconnecting from God where God for someone wants to kill you or unless you're willing to denounce God but even when it comes to any one of the 248 mitzvot or 365 negative Commandments I am willing to take the same approach that by God forid not doing a Mitzvah or by transgressing one of the negative Commandments I'm disconnecting from God God then I will be able to easily as the AL writes in the beginning of T very very easily andar to me to be able to do all the 248 positive Commandments stay away from transgression of the 365 negative Commandments do it in a way that I love God and I don't want to be disconnected from God so I think to you see here a complete picture probably why the re's Father the cabalist told the son to study this chapter on the day of his wedding because now obviously he's getting married it's a whole new level of spirituality that he's entering in and he wanted to reconnect him with probably one of the most important chapters in Tanya even though everyone's important but one of the most important chapters in Tanya because this way it allows you to have a loving and a relationship with God that will allow you to observe every one of the 248 Commandments not to transgress any one of the 365 Commandments but done in a very very easy way by having the awareness that by doing or God forid not transgressing I'm constantly being connected and for sure not being disconnected from God and who wants to be disconnected from God we only want to be connected in an everlasting way