Tanya By Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz Chapter 34 Simcha/Happiness is thru Torah Study & Charity.

welcome to tonight's Tanya class we are studying per L chapter 34 in Tanya so starting in chapter 26 the alter started on a journey um of the idea of s but let me just actually begin by saying tonight's class dedicating to speedy recovery hopefully a miracle for a and Le okay so back so in chapter 26 the AL spoke at length about the idea that we have to be if you want to be in life you got to be happy if you're happy you can do anything God if you're not happy everything becomes a struggle he spoke about in chapter 26 27 28 29 and 30 he spoke about what happens if a person is uh you know totally like not in a good place so he talks about the idea that's coming from your animal soul and then we have to obviously deal with the animal Soul um to try to get it out of the way um going on in chapter 31 he speaks even though you deal with the animal Soul you have to like a little be you know oppress it a little bit nevertheless the person should still be happy because of your Godly Soul chapter 32 he went out to speak about that through the fact that a person's happy you will have great relationships which obviously is great um chapter 33 which we discussed last week Dr discussed that a key way to achieve great great joy is by something which is called which is the idea of the unity and Oneness of God the fact that God is one what mean one not that one versus two the only real existence in the world that exists is God and when a person is aware and conscious about the fact that God is the only thing that exists guess what happens you're happy why because wherever you are God's with you and by you um creating that awareness in your life you're actually giving God a sense of joy and satisfaction so it's a double reason to be happy because you're making God's presence felt in a real way in this world that's basically last week's chapter this week the auor introduces a a second of and he explains like this this that we spoke about last week about the idea of Oneness of God so what what is the idea of oness of God we believe that God is everything God isn't everywhere and so our connection to that act is based on a based on faith what's the issue with the problem with with faith the problem with faith is that it's all-encompassing and it's not necessarily always internalized so this week the introduces a whole new concept of an important concept concept that could be actually internalized in our lives and the alar begins with a little piece of history and he starts as follows and he says that we know that the first Jewish person was who was Abraham Abraham now we had not only Abraham we had the three Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and in the world of cabala there's a name for Abraham Isaac and Jacob the regular name is there are forefathers what's the cabalistic name for the forefathers they're called the Mera what is a Mera a Mera is a chariot now why they call the Chariot it's like you know calling someone a chariot why they a chariot because what's a chariot a chariot basically does not have any will mind feelings of its own a charity is you plug him onto the horse and he's ready to go he does whatever he's whatever he's supposed to do so in other words so the Abraham and Isaac Jacob are like the Chariot mean say they had no will of their own they had no mind of their own even though they had a will and they had a mind but the point was they were able to totally put their will and their mind and their ideas and their thoughts um and their feelings just to do one thing to bring God and godliness down to this world so on one hand I mean it's it's obviously it's it's a powerful uh um it's not an easy thing to do because you're letting go of your will and your intellect and your mind and your feelings I mean literally even though you you were gifted with these things you're letting it all go but on the other hand if you think about it it happens to be once you do it life is very easy life is very easy cuz what do you need to do whatever God wants what do you think whatever God wants me to think I'm I'm ready and you and so you take yourself out of the equation you take the big eye out of the equation you take the ego out of the equation once you know how once you take the ego out of the equation life is simple who do you think makes all the problems we do our i and r e ego if we're able to get our eye and our ego out of the way life is very simple decisions are very easy to make you know a lot of times it's hard to make decisions but when the decision is very simple what does God want me to do right now I do it you don't have to say oh I should have done that I should have been here I should have gone there and you're like always second guessing yourself and you're not sure of yourself and it affects your self-esteem when when a person is on the level of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob you're the Chariot take me wherever you want wherever I'm needed that's where I am you need me here I'm here now you need me there I'm there now I'm not confused I'm not torn wherever I'm needed most and wherever I'm needed best that's where I am now that is again you're giving up it might look like on a superficial level you're giving up your freedom your ideas but you're actually getting the biggest gift because you are now a chariot for God's Will and once you're a chariot for God's will you don't think you're in the right place you don't think you're doing the right thing for sure you're doing the right thing you're doing what God wants you to do so that is basically what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are called in the world of cabala they were a chariot for God meaning to say is whatever God wanted what what does that mean practically in our class that means they were a chariot for the Oneness of God because when you say whatever God wants I'm ready to do what are you affirming the only one and real the only one and real exclusive existence that exists is what God God God's will God's ideas God's feelings so that and Oneness goes hand in hand that was the life of the Patriarchs let's move forward then you had prophets the prophets operated the same way they basically whatever God said whatever God said that's what they shared they didn't share their own thoughts their own ideas their own feelings whatever God said they they shared think about it what is what is a prophet called a Novi what does a prophet mean he prophesizes whatever God says it's not he didn't come up and give a nice speech a nice joke a nice entertain entertainment it's it wasn't about him he was basically a vehicle for God then you have as we know the elitist not in a negative way God elitist but in a the the elitist in the prophets who was considered the greatest Prophet Moses why because Moses basically saw God face to face and as the expression is which refers to the presence and the power of God comes comes out automatically from God from God from from from Moses's throat means whatever God says just comes out it's like passive it's not a active it's not an active involvement is a strictly passively going through Moses so the Patriarchs the prophets Moses all had one thing in common what would what do they have in common they were a chariot for what for the Oneness of God that is the Patriarchs the prophets and Moses what happened to the Jewish people so it says that when God gave the Torah at Mount Si so the Jewish people were elevated to that level they were able to see and feel the Oneness of God they didn't see walls they didn't see tables not they had walls and tables in in that Mount Si but they didn't see anything physical physical what they saw was the Oneness of God they experienced it and actually God came down to the mountain and started to say the Ten Commandments now what happened to the Jewish people when God started to share the Ten Commandments their souls left their body why did the souls leave the body because they couldn't handle that Oneness the Patriarchs were totally humbled for God the prophets Moses they had true humility and they were able to handle it the Jewish people when they experien a drop of it at Mount Si their souls left the body they couldn't handle that Oneness of God so they got it was a big dilemma big problem on one hand they wanted to be one with God and the other hand every time they basically became this ones of God they were totally like their souls were leaving the body they were dying so God said guess what we have to create some kind of vehicle that the Jewish people could experience the Oneness of God because life in this world as we're studying this week and last week is a life that we're supposed to be happy and happy to what level to the highest possible level of happiness and the highest possible level happiness comes when one with God when you're one with God there you go now if when you're one with God you start fainting it's not going to work so God had to create a vehicle that we can be one with God but then again our soul wouldn't leave our body so what was that vehicle that God created that we're one with God and our soul won't leave a body he went ahead and said guess what we're going to make a mishan what is a mishan so we know we have the BET mikdash which is the permanent temple in Jerusalem and then you had before that you had something which is called a mishan which is a moving um a moving Temple it's like a house and a RV right a house is a a permanent house and RV is the one that you drive around so the permanent Temple is the one in the bet mikdash in Jerusalem we had the two of them and God willing we have the third where the Messiah comes and then you have the the the Tabernacle that the Jewish people travel with it's referred to as a tabernacle of Shiloh because it's spent most of the years in Shiloh you go today you'll see they have like a little synagogue which they is a little the shape the roof is a little like that but anyway that's a side note but the point is so they God I'm I'm commanding you to build a mishan mishan means again a tabernacle but the literal translate mishan means where God could dwell in there God's infinite power can dwell in there and they had the sacrifices and you had lighting the manura and the show and all all these what took place in the Tabernacle but what was the purpose of the mishan so when you come to the mishan you can see oh my gosh you literally saw godliness because as we know there's a lot of Miracles that took place in the mishan many many miracles is listed in in in mishna in in the mot a lot of Miracles that took place every single day in the in in the mishan and the B mikdash so when you came there you saw oh my gosh now you saw this like the Oneness of God so by but by creating that so how they connect to the Oneness of God by this Mishka by a physical entity that God created through that they able to to to achieve to experience the oness of God now so the reality is anytime you want to experience the Oneness of God since if we experience it totally like the Patriarchs or the prophets or Moses our soul would leave a body so God had to create what a vehicle he gave us a gift the mishkan and then after the the the mishkan era was over what we have we had the B mikdash we had the mikdash so now here's the question today we know we don't have the mishan we don't have the mdash at least in the revealed way until the Messiah comes so how are we going to connect to this wers of God so guess what from when the from when the temple was destroyed the anytime a person a Jew uh studies Jewish law and follows Jewish law you are experiencing that Oneness of God just like in the temple so you can experience how can you experience the Oneness of God by studying study studying Torah uh specifically in the area of but anytime you study Torah you're you're experiencing the oness of God why is right now you're sitting down you're a human being and yes you don't see the Oneness of God otherwise you would like totally flip out you know like we did at Mount Si but by just like we went to the mishan we experienced the oness of God today we can take out some Jewish law we can take M tal and we study guess what we are at that moment experienced the oness of God so we have the power today to do that when we do that when we sit and study Torah so you just took a moment which was let's call it neutral there was nothing going on and you pulled out a holy book and you started to study you know what he does right now when someone walks in for yourself what do you see you see God you see the one of God because I could have done something God be terrible or I could do nothing so terrible nothing the comment it's not God or Godly versus if I sit down and say you know I'm going to this time God gave me time as a gift and I'm going to spend this time in this place I'm going to sit and study Tor right now so right now what am I doing I'm why am I studying Torah and I'm because I want to cre connect with oness of God so as I study Torah you know what I'm experiencing the Oneness of God and when once you experience the Oneness of God now it's a whole different reality now the Oneness of God is is kicking in and as the Oneness of God kicks in you know what happens you stop being happy happy in a real way why are you happy because you are making a dwelling place for God right now where you're at so therefore when I sit down and study Torah and we know there's a we we have a m with when it terms to studying to we have a minimum obligation to study at least a chapter in the morning and a chapter in the evening it means let's say for example you're busy irrelevant what whe whether you're taking care of your family or you have to work to earn a livelihood um whatever you're involved in but as busy as you are there's no exemption from I'm talking in the world of of Torah study I'm not talking about other MIT there's no exemption from not sing out uh time in the morning when you get up and time in the evening to sit down and study a little bit a little bit could be 3 minutes five minutes mishna some tal or some a little bit in the morning a little in the evening that's a mandatory that's a must obviously if you have time to study more you can study 24 hours a day cuz the biblical obligation to study Torah is really when 24/7 you have exemptions to pray and to eat and to ear a livelihood and to you know be involved in the community project and so on and so forth but the point is that the biblical obligations a minimum at least something in the morning something in the evening and again the the uh the maximum is infinite so when a person studies Torah you know what happens then wow you're experiencing the Oneness of God when you experience the oness of God what happens you're happy you're happy now here the alter says that's a major difference than the previous chapter in the previous chapter is it's more about faith okay you have you know faith in the Oneness of God and that's great but how's that internalized here when you're actually sitting down and you and you when you know when you study you have to say the words you have to say it out loud and you're saying the words and you're listening to what you're saying you are actually drawing God down in you in an internal way and that Joy is much more powerful much more po potent and much more internalized and much more lasting within you and that will give you the net result of what true true Joy so the alter asked a simple question he says okay I got it when I study Torah I'm bringing god listen to me and now I feel the Oneness of God because true why you studying Torah if you don't believe in God why you studying Torah obviously you believe in God and you studying God's Torah and when you study Torah you're studying God's Torah so now you're part of the oness of God now you're happy so the auor ask a simple question but the obligation to study Torah is what a chapter in the morning a chapter in the evening and let's say for example you're busy whether you're married and you have kids and you have a family and you have a job and you have a community have other obligations and you can barely do the minimum so that helps you to feel the Oneness of god whenn let's say for a half hour in the morning and a half hour in the evening so out of 24 hours you have a half hour in the morning a half hour in the evening which is 1 hour which is not even 5% of your time and that 5% you you're experiencing the oness of God so in that 5% you're going to feel Joy how you going to feel Joy the rest of the 24 hours N More Than 95% of your day how you going to feel the joy the rest of the day because what we say the way to re to achieve Joy is by what by Oneness of God Oneness of God comes through studying Torah but you're studying Torah only for half hour in the morning half hour at night how you going to achieve the Oneness of God so the alterus is very simple you are studying Torah for half hour in the morning half hour night why cuz you're trying to get away with the the smallest amount no I'm busy whether family community work whatever you know obligations you have but let's say you didn't have all those obligations would you study Torah 24/7 absolutely you have something else better to do I mean I don't mean something else better to for you doing that there's nothing greater I don't mean there's nothing greater that one can do other than connect with the Oneness of God and if I can do it through study and and the best way to do is through study Torah so therefore if I had 100% any free moment I had you know what I'd be doing I'd be studying Torah now that means if I didn't have any obligations no family obligations no Financial Obligations let's say for example I got the Mana came into my bank account every uh you know every every every day I didn't have to go out and look for look for a job and all other responsibilities happen and things happen on its own so what would happen I wouldn't I wouldn't have to go ahead and sit and study Torah hi welcome welcome welcome come have a seat have a seat um I wouldn't have to S I wouldn't have to do other stuff I would sit and study Torah 24/7 so the truth is the reason why I'm studying Torah only for half hour in the morning half night is why because that's all I have the time but the truth is what I would study when 24/7 so the Alaba says so since you would study Torah 24/7 and that's really your intention so we have a rule in Judaism which is a very very important Rule and it's a good rule to know that somebody has a good thought and let's say for example let's take for example this case he had a thought he wants to really study 247 but nothing he has to go to work and he has to take care of this for his family and he has to do this for his community and this obligation through this Mitzvah right but bottom he didn't get around to it but he really wants to study 24/7 so even though you didn't study 24/7 you just study Torah for half an hour guess what it's considered it's considered as what as if you study Torah 24 hours a day wow we're giving you credit as if you did it just for the thought think about this think about this again so when you get up in the morning say you know really I want to study Torah all day but you know God I'm not putting you on hold I got to go to work right and I got to go spend time with the family and I got to do some other obligations but really I would study the minute I have a free minute oh Night comes a half hour you know what I would right I would study now for the next 20 hours but I got to go to sleep I'm tired I'm exhausted tomorrow have to get up early right Etc but really your intention is and not you're not playing it's not it's not a stick it's not a game and it's not a you know a con you really would love to study 24/7 God if you sent the money in my bank account I don't have to work right if if you took care of my family by robotic that I don't have to take care of the you know my chores and my errands Etc and if you took care of everything else guess what I would study Torah and I'm being sincere I'm making a deal with you God send in the money why in the money to account I don't have to work that's right away 9 to5 and then some right so in other words so since your since your thought is good which is I want to study Torah God considers as if you're studying Torah 24/7 now so now even though technically how long you studying for Torah 4 1 hour a day an hour a day but really do I want to study 24 hours a day 24 hours absolutely I'm technically not able to but because I want to because I want to I Really sincerely want to and the proof is take for example Sunday my day off I sit and study Torah I don't sit around and read newspapers and watch TV and playing the internet or go on WhatsApp and all these emails right don't spend my time with nothing I actually sit and study Torah that's the proof so God considers it that you studying Torah when 24 hours a day so therefore when if you're as if it's considered that you're studying Tor 24 hours a day what happens now you are you are connected with the Oneness of God 24 hours a day and maybe in reality you're not studying right now but you would want to so God consider if you're studying and since it's if you're studying Torah you're connected to the Oneness of God cuz that's really your mind is think about it that's what your really heart is that's what your mind is and you sincerely would love to do it just technically don't have the time so guess what SIM is automatic when 24 hours a day so again even though you're studying Torah for the time that you're able to whether it's a half hour morning half hour night or if it's 2 hours 3 hours whatever the amount is but the other time you really want to study Torah so you're plugged in with the oness of God 24 hours a day and therefore you experience what through all the time cuz again s is a byproduct of unity Unity I have how do I have it in a real world by studying and the rest of I'm not studying it's really I do want to study it's don't have I'm not able to and God considers if I'm studying Torah can you imagine God's pretty good he's giving you credit for stuff that you're not doing huh de who does that for you canag you say to your boss I wanted to come to work this week I wasn't able to but I wanted to give me a paycheck you know you're not that's not going too far right but God's paying you God's giving you SC opens up a bank I there you go he has a bank the bank is open the bank of study to give tithing tithing means whatever the amount I made whatever the x is you take 10% of that 10% you give to charity now why you giving 10% of the charity or you can give up to 20% because that's what it says in the Torah 10% are up to 20% you can give you shouldn't really give more than 20% unless it's unique circumstances so you give away 10% or even up to 20% now when a person gives away that money so what happens is when you give that to charity so how do you earn your money when you worked do you just like passively set at work or you like really into it you're all everything's into it all cylinders as we say are working your mind your heart you know your emotions are working and that's how people succeed in business so you're working fully what happens you worked fully so as a reward for your work whether you a boss gives it to you or you're self-employed and you create a profit so you earn the paycheck in that payche check even though it's money what's in that paycheck that's a reward for all your work you worked pretty hard to to get that basket of shekels dollars not appreciating that's your work is in there that's your work your work produced that when you go ahead and give 10% of that whatever the dollar amount to charity what are you giving think about it you're giving everything of you you're giving your mind that you put into the work your heart and your passion you put everything into it so when a person gives that to charity you're not only elevating the time of work let's say for 10% of your work but since 10% or 20% um is the the required amount of Charity it elevates not only the 10% of your work day but it elevates 100% of your workday so since when you give charity it elevates not only the 10% of your work day but actually elevates that's since that's the lot amount of Charity it elevates your whole work day so therefore you created a Oneness in your work because why are you working you're working so you can earn a living and when you earn a living and you give away 10% tithing you actually koshered all the money that you earned which basically means you elevated your full day's work you elevated your whole day's work but and what does it mean you elevated the whole day's work you basically made it clear that God runs the world and because God runs the world even though I would rather keep the 10% cuz or 20% it's more for me I'm saying no I'm giving away 10% 20 I agree that God runs the world you're establishing the Oneness of God so now you establish it not only for the time that you work you're giving the 10% of it actually affects your whole day of work and therefore you can experience um which will bring you about true that's the second idea the AL discusses the third idea the AL says very simple when a person studies Torah as we said before for the minimum that he's able to to whether it's a half hour an hour 2 hours whatever time you you're left with to study Torah in the day because the rest of you're busy doing important things we hope so when you're studying Torah at that moment even though at that moment you're experienc you're going to say hey for the rest 23 or 22 hours day I'm not experiencing it the answer is no no because when you study Torah that hour that half hour that two hours that half hour an hour has the power to elevate the whole day in the sense that the O has fell through throughout the whole day the Oneness and unity of God has spelled throughout the whole day and that will bring you Sim throughout the whole day so it's in other words it has a residual effect it's not like while you're studying Torah it's Oneness of God and therefore you're happy no no while you're studying Torah it's the Oneness of God and you're happy but it spills over into the rest of your day so whatever you're able to and as long as you maximize the time that you're able to study Torah it has an effect for then and has effect for afterwards now so what does the alterate bring out so far from this chapter of Tanya chapter L chapter 34 that when a person studies Torah or when a person studies Torah and which basically creates the reality that a re real reality is what the Oneness of God that will bring him true joy in a very very powerful way so what happens now throughout the day you're filled with joy but the alterate says but hold on a second there are certain issues since we're not perfect we're not angels we have certain issues that we need to still resolve certain struggles that we have and the fact is sometimes we're not inspired and the Alterra says here an important point is that it's not a contradiction you can work on both things at the same time you can focus in the fact that God is one and by studying Torah God's one becomes real and is actually is real in your life and through that you have real but at the same time you can take a um a look at your life and you can say you know in certain areas I'm really not necessarily one with God and in certain areas I'm not necessarily 100% inspired and what I would like to do is I would like to work on that and you can be do some soul searching you can be even a little bitter about it and you can literally have the both experiences at the same time as he quotes from The Z you can have one side of your heart is happy and one side of your heart s is a little sad uh not to press God forbid um uh why because things aren't working the way it's supposed to and it's not a contradiction it's not a contradiction why CU from your soul you're happy because I'm one with God but on the other hand from my animal Soul I'm not not happy the way with it performance I'm not happy that it's not excited um you know to study Torah and do MIT and pray etc etc um and and once a person realizes that that you can do both so you should do both and it's not a contradiction because you're not leaving things so to speak un un unkempt or undal with you're addressing the issues that have to be addressed but more importantly you're addressing the most important issue and the most important issue as the AL says is to make sure a person's always happy because happiness is key to serve God and the key way to serve God is obviously through the Oneness of God and the the novel idea the AL troduces in this chapter of T that when we study Torah we are connected to the Oneness of God and even for the time that we don't necessarily study Torah but since we want to we really want to we just say listen you know I would love to study more my passion is to study Torah because I'm I'm connected to God and the way to connect to God is obviously through through through Torah study and if I'm willing to study Torah when 247 just give me the ability I'll study more Torah guess what you will get credit for all that you'll experience the Oneness of God and when you experience the Oneness of God you will experience the most fa fabulous and greatest Sim and joy that will be internalized in your life and you'll be so happy and life will be so great and so blessed