#7 Was the Chofetz Chaim a Tzaddik or Benoni? - Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

so the day we're here to start the first chapter of Tanya but as I said a moment ago uh I'd like to look at Tanya here with from a psychological perspective as well not as a substitute so I just want to read a Wikipedia translation of Tanya if it's wrong it's wrong if it's right it's right I think it's pretty much right psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena including feelings and thoughts it is an academic discipline of immense scope crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains leaking discipline to Neuroscience a social scientist psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and the emergent property and the groups the word first letter of the Greek word psyche from which the word the term psychology is derived is commonly associated with the science I'm not going to read more but basically um and you correct me uh you're more professional at this than I am um my understanding is that psychologists seek to understand the the the the inner part of the person that's not always revealed uh called the the super conscious the subconscious and uh the inside the brain you know and all of that what's hasidus before we get to Tanya turn usable is the study of the Jew from the inside out that's the difference between the talmud and halacha which we call neglect the revealed part and hasidus hasidis says that although outwardly you look a certain way and behave a certain way it doesn't mean that's who you are as we discussed many many times so hasidus also delves into the behind the scenes Persona of the person but the difference between psychology and Sid this is a very important one and it needs to always be remembered that hasidus deals with the nishama with a soul psychology doesn't necessarily deal with the soul or it doesn't deal with the soul it deals with the brain you know in other words there's the the behavior and then there's the brain so one one second so this must be remembered and I discussed this and I heard this from Dr torskiel of ashalem and then I printed it to several places as well it's very important because sometimes we get confused that we say see this is psychology psychology it's not true it has psychological elements and and it feels sometimes like it's a study of psychology but it's it's um modus operandi the soul is not a br is not brain the brain is physical then the Sharma is spiritual yes Maisha let's say an emotional element of the person you're talking about psychology or oxidis I I mean I read to you what Wikipedia says I didn't see emotions but I guess it also deals with emotions I mean that I have to leave for the psychologist you know I that's not my forte you know I but I believe that it also deals with the emotions but I think that there's an emphasis the way we just read on the brain in other words the emotions as are subordinate to the brain and by the way in hasid especially this it's the same way it's not that the brain is a substitute for the emotions but the whole thing is mind over matter so the emphasis is on the mind how you understand something cognitive therapy cognitions okay but let let's now go into the Tanya and and I just wanted to give a Chloe a little just general introduction so let's go from peric Olive page hey in every single Tanya it should be the first page you see a Top Line the kind of the the title it's called the kutiyambarim again a collection of sayings that's what the author calls it that and this particular first section is Saint for Shelby is the book for the average man okay and that's why over the centuries when people sometimes ask what are you studying they would say safer or some would even say banging them again today it's been really it's called Tanya everyone calls it Tanya Tanya but just know historically it wasn't always called Tanya people identified it as being in them okay and and and clearly it's doubted Eber in other words he didn't need to add the word say for Shelby right he made he makes a point on the title page which we learned to depth he makes a point to say this is safe or shall Bane in them because he wants us to know this is for us this isn't for sadiqib this is for the average man okay pay to God with chapter one of neither to the soul before it descends into the world should be righteous and don't be Wicked we tell the soul we cut you're coming you're coming into a body you're coming into a child to a fetus you're going to be born so get ready be righteous and don't be bad but feel the color even if everyone loves you and says hey you're a great guy you should be in your own eyes when you begin your path I'm a bad guy being to say I have challenges okay bad in the sense of not I'm a wicked man but you know I have temptations and therefore Hashem administers an oath to the soul be careful and through this oath when you make a note you're obligated that's the whole kayak of an oath in the Torah that although logically I won't be able to do it the oath gives me Kayak to be able to do it this is what it says at the end of the third chapter of Nita asks the outer adverbs we must understand the naan of his beta base we learn he asks firstly a contradiction from another mishnah ethics of the Father's Office chapter two quote it says just the opposite the a person should never consider himself bad so how do we reconcile what it says in others parent base and what it says at the end of neither that's a that's a you know a technical question a contradiction seemingly between two citations now the alternative says let's think about it logically let's think about this piece of Gomorrah in neither which suggests to us we we look at ourselves Wicked logically and he says if you will indeed be in your own eyes like Wicked you ain't a lever your heart will feel bad you'll feel lousy the year also and you'll be sad and depressed you won't be able to serve Gods with happiness and a gladness of the heart which is obligatory for every person serving God to be happy at what it's doing can you imagine what we tell you tell a child you're terrible you're terribly terrible he feels terrible you tell a person the same thing you can't do it you can't do it you can't do it he grows up feeling I can't do it so we hear Dr never says the mission in neither with this instruction that you should look at yourself bad and wicked in psychologically terrible advice that's right now and he says what if you take the other attitude and it's important to today and that attitude is I don't give it I don't care I don't care look inside if it won't bother you at all in other words I'm the mother could say whatever it wants so then your whole you can become a cow if you go with the attitude I don't care what the Camara says and I can do what I want you might as well throw everything out if there's no discipline is a meaningless with what it says it's some kind of thing I don't understand or I don't care for then you're going to become a coward he says cosmashon so in other words the question the altareb is asking the second question is where's the balance how do you balance Maisha the feeling on one hand not to feel haughty and feel righteous and at the other hand to feel happy and this is not Johannes and this is not a question from the mishma this is a psychological question a rational question and that was how was a person is is one person how is one person supposed to think about himself simultaneously in two opposite ways that's the question make up your mind who am I in so the outcome says this points to the following this points to a deeper understanding of labels in other words this whole idea of I am wicked I am not Wicked I am righteous is labels right here in the first chapter of Tanya teaches us from a fundamental teaching stay away from labels because labels will get you into trouble and we all know that right that whole stuff stay away from it uh that's it a non-jew is a non-jew and each has their mission each has their avoid them now let's see how he teaches us this message it's going to be most of the page or all of the page the rest of this page but it's important is five categories the first one is someone who's righteous and he has a good you know he has God and he has a nice large house and everything else he has nice costumes that's meaning in Gomorrah number two Santa Clara he's righteous and spiritual and holy but he doesn't have much cashmere so it's bad for him in other words his physical life it's he doesn't have it well third category Russia Victoria spiritually he's a mess he's a sinner he doesn't care it got lots of money and everything else he has you know gosh this fourth category Russia Vitale not only is he spiritually bereft and corrupt he spiritually is physically he's a mess too he don't have money as a bank account so he's a loser from all sides okay then we have a fifth category that the mother says obeying me someone who's average I miss let me say again I'm Abyssal from them a little of this and a little of that says that the commodity explains the mother says that what does it really mean that it's it there's a category of gold called exotic and goodness to him it's referring to Sadi gobble someone's completely righteous and everything and that's why Johanna said he's blessed with goshmias the category that he's excited but he doesn't have Kashmir is he's missing in the physical world that individual was sadiksha in the glamor an incomplete Sadiq and because spiritually he's an incomplete side which we don't know yet what that means this will be explained later in time yeah right but the Commodities does cite these two sayings Sadiq Gomer and Sadiq Aina gomor simply it means complete Sadiq or incomplete Sonic the loyal Shepherd referring to Bishop abdain was a section in the Zaya Peter it explains in person it says over there means the little bear that he has within him cuff of is subjugated to the good Etc of a holy is kind of the first to give us an Insight that what it means outside the government Sati came to Governor is that part of the individual that's completely good or income or incompletely good it means that it's either subordinate to the good or it's not subordinate to the good and by Assad gomor it's completely subordinate to the good but it's incomplete there's still a little a little something that's there to plague you to haunt you to bother you the mother say to save Peter tested the outer breeds now support to that from a gamara it says them Sadiq and those that are righteous their ego Incarnation dominates Wicked people their Evil Nation dominate paying the name the category called intermediates the average their visa both dominate both the good and the bad so again what do we see from this camera this camera implies different than the first gamara the first gamer implies that it's talking about goshness and rochnius this Kumari says no no it's all talking about rochnius it's all talking about look this it's talking about who is who's in control the Yates are over the age of Tafe the eight tieve over the eight Sahara or a little of both says for example I am abating you I'm an average person Amelia Baya his prominent projecty student called the buyer sector him Rabbi teacher Master you haven't left let out haven't left over any life for any creature in other words if you're our rabbi and you say you're also banging these why don't we we ought to show you and what does it say picky of us so that's why he says Robert's comment is a buyer's common to rabbis lechovic you don't leave any life over the whole barrier because life is not for sure you like your dad and you're telling us that you're abandon me so you imagine what we are so basically a buyer is saying to rabba rabba come on explain yourself we you know you're not in a rush you know you're not obeying me what do you mean you're calling yourself a baby if a baby means half virtuous and half bad therefore the outlet ever says after all these remarks well the housing calls that bad native so we need to really understand the categories in other words what he says these words are from he's means to say we need to really understand the inside of man the Russia the Sadiq the banging the what is this exactly a little good a little bad in other words if you if you just take it at face value like the mother says it sir you know it's of your behavior and your my sim you're left with many questions as asked you out that asks over here in the first page of Tanya these are all most of it is gamoras and he and he asks very strong questions and the implication is and and actually and even even the Gamora another gamara that he brings shows that we have to look deeper we cannot suffice by saying that what the camera means that it refers to just your money is adequate I say the word adequate like a mother is Holy so the first Commander is Holy there must be much more to it it's not just about how much money you have in my bank account or not you know and how many minutes did I do and I told you when the the group of laborator boys came over in 1949 50 from from France from Russia to France and there was a Nevada Yeshiva there famous Musser Yeshiva Nevada they did tremendous good throughout Europe Mama saved hundreds I mean thousands of of boys and buffer him to lead a from lifestyle I'd like to talk about the verdict but not now anyway so they came there and they saw there were tables little tables and a group sat here and a group sat there so the Liberation asked them this was in France he's like why it was evident that you you guys are split up is it because you understand the gamara this deep and they understand this deep they said no no no no we understand all the same but those people that did 25 Mitzvahs are at this table 35 Mitzvahs at another table 60 Alvarez and a four third table this is this is a bicep that I heard in Yeshiva we heard we knew the people now it's not a it's not a put down it's just a certain style like Downton Abbey here takes that style and kind of flushes it out he's saying that technically that's true but there's much more to it of course how many how many missions did you do but the question is what's the Titan of the mitzvah what's the content of your Mitzvah and maybe someone who just did one mix when you did 25 his mix was more genuine than you're 25 minutes it's a whole different analysis and the same is true with our varus and you know I think about it just extrapolate for a moment only the same idea and yeshivas today you know the star students wow the mediocre students the students that are not interested forget it no that leads to a disaster when I was Yeshiva La Babaji Yeshiva as a 17 year old we were all in one base madrish and there were weaker people the principal came to me and he said I know you want to learn what a stronger have Russia but I trust trust me if you learn with a bucker who's weaker it'll be better for you and first I didn't want don't think I want it here I am starting by learning to to learn title learn gemara you know you want to be with the with the sharpest guys with the best guys you can repeat the or you could question you know what I'm saying said do do yourself a favor try take my advice I listened I listened and he was right because by me having to explain the gemara to someone who didn't have that background it only made my knowledge and my effort to understand the gamara much better over here going back to the Tanya he says that if you look at the at these five categories just as 25 minutes 30 of various and you know a technical score you remain with a technical answer but if you want to find the essence of yourself and the essence of a Jew and the essence of a non-jew and the essence of the world you have to put that aside okay but I I don't want I don't want it we should walk away saying that a commodity out there ever quotes the beginning has no meaning it definitely has meaning the mark the way the gemara analyzes the five categories the first camera the first Camaro is you know how many Mitzvahs and how many are Venus and do you have it good and God should be a soul so just the gosh beers or just the rookies or you have an average but uh but someone who's a a mavakish and every Jew should be a Seeker I'm a vacation it shouldn't it shouldn't suffice you shouldn't you know it's like you go into a classroom and a professor and you shake your head yeah yeah yeah yeah what are you shaking your head for ask question challenge with their parents or even to a doctor you have a right to ask if this is a doctor if you feel something's not right about a medicine ask challenge him you know now you know hopefully he'll answer you know you're like I said the same things with a rabbi you're that's the whole gather of of Titus to probe what what you do it with Hotspur and you do it with outrageous and you feel like I know better than the doctor I'm gonna tell the doctor then then I understand and sometimes frankly I go into a doctor that way and a smart doctor says thank you sir if you think you know medicine better than me then have a nice day I'm the doctor you know the same was with Taylor the same was in in in my learning over the years with my spiem and Russia's I didn't find that to be the case but again because you know I went about it with a dead of credits when you go about it with their herods it's a whole different scenario if the mashpia if the Russia Shiva if the doctor feels that you're arrogant that you're just making trouble and they have a right to tell you go somewhere else thank you have a nice day so the alternative here is probing our ourselves and saying what are we made of what are we made of let's continue The Gambler Hub in my sharmity is still continues asking there's a a possibility if it's brought down in chapter one master of universe you created righteousness but also the shame you created Wicked ones holy that's what Eve said well then after able to ask what's happening with Russia like there's one thing that God gives a person free will whether you be righteous or whether they'll be Wicked everyone has clear acrosius so what did E of mean but Russia is showing him you created righteous you created Wicked next question is let's understand the very Core Essence of what we call a banyani surely it's not half virtuous and have since Shrimp King because if that were the interpretation make a mistake in calling himself a baby it's known in the tomorrow never took away his mouth from learning actually but the age of death couldn't dominate over him and the gamara tells the story of course that the wind had to come and he thought that the house is going to fall in the tree is going to fall over he stopped learning and went and gave a look at the tree for a moment did he learned the Malachi mothers came and took away his nisham he died so what do we see Avi we see that that this this this rabbit was was a man it was was such a holy guy he never stopped learning so what do you mean he was half virtuous and half sinful makes no sense how could he have made such a grave mistake in other words we know yes sir that rabbit was exotic but he was humble somehow and he said about himself he's obeying the humble is when it's in the category and within the realm of normalcy when it's total baloney it's not humility it's nonsense so forever to say I am abandoningly meaning and if the meaning is I have half mistress and half a various you're a liar around but you don't even have one of pharaoh and the proof is God couldn't take your soul till he had to make concoct an idea of a wind and the wind came and finally your soul left so obviously this abandoning me something much deeper that's what the altaba wants to prove here he hasn't told us what a Bane in the years that we're not going to learn that today it really is going to be developed in chapters 12 and 13 of the Tanya but one thing's for sure what he's doing over here in the first page is setting up a scenario that the literal meaning of the demoras need deeper understanding let's continue he says tactically speaking when a person does since he's called wicked in the brackets if later he does truth then is considered a complete subject even if you just desecrate a most lenient law of the rabbis Russia you called a Russia for doing that he needs to be paid a common base the information citations and even more so if I feel emissions someone has the opportunity to protest you see someone doing something wrong and he has the ability to say hey what are you doing and he doesn't protest he doesn't open us up the commodity says Russia you call the Russia the coast gave the cow claim and needless to say but my father if someone desecrates a positive commandment she absolutely Karma that he was able to fulfill chooses the hardest example of all culture efficiently lasted potato Whoever has the ability to learn Terror every moment next page fourth to page 10. Shah Allah the rabbi is darshan about a person who's able to learn every moment and doesn't calling a posse I believe that he he desecrates the word of God you know he should be cut off he's gonna die that's for just not learning one minute one time if you were able to learn so Russia today it's surely somebody will be would be called a Russia much more than Milwaukee then just desecrating a rabbinic enactments if he encaine he summarizes his point alkane have been in the aim boy a few oven bitter abandon me surely does not have even the hardest thing to watch or so from which is the sin of wasting a minute not learning to tell you that because if a baby has that is a Russia and you're calling him a pain in me right so Delta remember says obviously when the mother talks about obeying me it's not just talking about you know a little good and a little bad because of all these contradictions obviously we're talking about and and especially rabbit rabbit made a seemingly a ridiculous ludicrous statement and we know that rapper was a smart man and he meant something else so what does that prove that abandon is not just someone who has half and half like the mother says but obeying in a sense is someone who's all perfect except and that exception we're going to talk about later in Tanya and here is without ever you know and we'll finish with this here's without ever you know lays the groundwork for his understanding of the five categories and therefore I want to conclude that that when we go out the street when you walk down the doe live or wherever you're in a show there oh he's exotic he's a Russian that's a figure of speech do you know what's going on but him inside does he know what's going on by him inside so it's a figure of speech and that's why in Chabad they were very very ambivalent and hesitant to call people Sadiq it was like they didn't they didn't and I'm very great people so the criticism by it was not at first and then the literature was like foreign there's so much more here it's a different it's a different question it's a different question if rabbit can challenge himself can't challenge himself are we going to say the coffee were greater than rabba I'm asking you ask ask that question does anyone a child ask them and if they say Yes um I don't know what to say so now the counter argument will be well why do you guys call the red but Savage you know that that's where they start and does it if it's a good question it's a good question and if a laboratory gets angry while you ask the question he's wrong he's shallow he doesn't understand what it says in the target foreign it's about the person every person of course an apple was at Sonic and of course these container were you know very holy people but but if you talk about what's going on inside to remove an urge you know you know what that means to remove an urge for any kind of kashmias that's that's hard hard like you know Heart of Heart so you can understand coming from that perspective why Gala Bobby was ambivalent in just throwing out the word you know throwing out the word yes uh someone went to that I think you understand you wanted to say something yes okay I said okay I'm just ready for you for you I'm excited exactly no problem it should we shouldn't make a big you know what I what I would say is come let's learn a piece of Tanya together you know once you get into I say this he says this you got it becomes a mess open up the Tanya and read about tongues listen don't think everyone agreed without the river I'm not saying everyone agreed but at least out the river was known as a special yeet right by everyone the Rapture chronology right the outer Rabbi was accepted anyone else by sharing wanted to say something David anyone yes sir okay if it's clear we'll end now so we're gonna learn again Mr Sam Wednesday okay and uh maybe we'll have some more conversations take care bye bye thank you thank you