Greatest Love is the fiery one, gold vs. silver - Thirst, lovesick, oneness - Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

we're beginning Today Chapter 50 in Tanya it's on page a which is opposite page 138 now from chapter 140 from chapter 43 through chapter 49 the author discussed different types of AEM love for God that will enhance a person's Torah study and their mitzvah so that they shouldn't be boring uh not not stimulated in chapter 40 the alus brought the parable that's brought in the zah in the Holy Z that it says a a Mitzvah and Torah study that doesn't have vitality and energy is like a bird who's missing its wings every bird that's a healthy bird has two Wings one is the wing of love and one is the wing of awe and those wings make the bird soar on high so when we learn and when we DAV when we pray of course you could learn and pray and it's meaningless and it's without heart and soul so is it better to pray and than not to pray is it better to pray without intent and inspiration than than not to pray no but nevertheless it's not going too far it's not soaring on high so these chapters from 43 through 50 through 49 the AL gave us different methods of meditation and reflection and contemplation how to inspire our study of Torah and MIT so they should soar on high that that was the basic message now in chapter 50 it comes along with another type of love for God but one that rather than remaining here on Earth and praying and studying and bringing kind of God into your prayer into your Torah study the objective of the love of chapter 50 is to to uh um to leave your bodily State spiritually speaking we don't mean to kill yourself but to have an experience which is called in the writings cation of the Soul meaning that you you you you pray so much with such fervor and you learn with such intensity that all you're interested is in being with God and you want to forget about where you are and who you are and everything else and it's at that very moment when you come to the peak experience of cation of soulish that it touches the essence of God and what's the essence of God remain on Earth and serve God here but in order to to come to that position that would God ultimate wants of of a human being is to be here you need to First have the inspiration that you don't want to be here you hear that in other words until now the the at the end of the day the ey and what I represent and who I am and everything else was very important and it it basically it basically it basically meant that the ego at the end of the day is is is important here in this chapter the AL says I'm going to share with you he says a a an approach to hasem that you lose yourself you reject yourself and it's in this rejection and in this loss that you find yourself cuz God wants you to be here so then you're being here is not because you have a self-interest and self ego at any level but it's because of hem and and this is called in in the terminology of the Alo the love the gold love versus silver love it's the a virtue of gold over silver and let's learn inside and I'll explain V chapter 50 all the different levels of love that we mentioned from chapters 43 through [Music] 49 they come from the right side there's the right there's the middle and there's the left H is to the right G Justice severity discipline is to the left left Orient RA mean balance the balance is the middle so when we talk about love forem until now we were focusing on the right orientation also says it's this is also called turn to top of 140 it's the co who a is we have a CO in kite right the priest the cohain and we have a levite a Ley it's explained in the and he's going to talk about it here as well that is and a is G why is a Le because a Ley sings the job of the Lev and the Levites in the Holy Temple the was to sing to God singing comes from you feeling deeply something and you're passionate and that same movement and orientation is gor what's right is right what's wrong is wrong right it's a disciplined approach is like water soft It's Kind it's easy it comes from Heaven to you so the Coen is called is and the the the orientation and desire that the Coen brings along in his service to God is known as the Silver the money of the Holy money but the holy KF mil that word K comes from the another Hebrew word I we we desire there was a desire very strong desire to be in the father's home so KF money right people normal people want money they have a strong desire for money because CF the Hebrew word for money itself implies strong desire passion a love is who through their love for God desired God says this is everything that we've learned until now but here he says there's another level of love for God and look at the words now this is a love for God that's greater than anything we've learned until now Kus it's analogous to the virtue of H of gold over Al now why is gold more valuable than KF and how much gold is more valuable than KF so it's not just I need a lot of gold to equal silver no even an iota of Z is so much much valuable I mean you could even you could take the worth of gold on the market and the worth of silver there's no comparison an ounce of gold versus so much more of silver why because it's in the quality of the gold it's the quality that makes the difference between gold and silver says the alter here that the virtue of this love that we're about to dis discuss and discover is analogous to the virtue of Z of gold over silver now telling me what it is and he tells you and it is it's a love of a burning flame of fire the which comes from What's called the superal severity of beina of superal beina in in in in simple English because it sounds very cabalistic you know we all have and we have three components to the the brain wisdom comprehension and concentration all faculties of the brain what's the tendency ofus earlier in Tanya creativity creativity requires calmness right to create an idea you have to sit back and think quietly the the the commotion that comes along with an emotional state is a contradiction to creativity generally speaking it doesn't help creativity it blocks creativity creativity requires a lot of calmness a lot of thought so what he says here is that this love that's passionate K it doesn't come from it comes from the element in the brain that's known as beina so what we're learning here is another point ofra and this is important not only is there a difference in the type of love in the heart is my love a fiery a fiery love or a calm love not just that but the love begins in the brain right because the love in the Heart Right the the Met of the heart the emotion of the heart is triggered by the brain when you understand something you have a feeling a feeling of love a feeling of a so if we say one type of Love is fiery and the other other type of Love Is Calm the its beginning begins in the brain and that's what he says that yes it does begin in the brain that the love of fire its source in the brain is beina and the love of KF of the Cain is in and that's why the love coming fromma is a more of a calm love a thoughtful love a meditative love whereas the love of like a bir burning fire lots of passion that comes from Bina which is associated with G so friction intense friction there's the friction of the heart and then there's the friction in the brain and that's what comprehension is what does it mean mha to comprehend something means to argue it out to analyze it that's a state of friction and tension right in where it's calm and and and restful you're not fighting but in beina you start taking this idea and start comparing it is it like this or is it like that you know in other words the analysis process the analytical process is itself a notion of tension and friction in the brain and the result is that when it when a a an emotion comes from that part of the brain it's a fiery it's a fiery emotion it's very very passionate it's very intense whereas an emotion that comes from the you could call the right side of the brain versus the left side HMA it's a calm emotion and we find this by people there are people who their emotions are more of the compsite and there are people who emotions are very fiery right go just go to any Shool go to any uh communal setting shabas um I was talking about the Reb's brother-in-law's yard site which is last Thursday R gari he was called the rash and I was sharing history much which the people don't know and it was totally silence and the people were listening and I was I went on quite a bit maybe I should have not but uh everyone was awake and focused it was because it and then one fellow who whose son made the Kish cuz he had a baby girl he says he says to me could you say Torah you know and I said to him relax just relax now I think he objected because one of the things that I said was um a little controversial or could be perceived that way you know and he probably felt that certain people there are newcomers so they don't need to hear that I'm telling you what I what I think but in thinking about it and and and then I went on and I finished it was you know but in thinking about it that person is more of the fiery type so whatever he hears his his approach to it is fiery is like you know uh it's not calm it's not calm you know that's people tend to either be calm people or fire people I mean a charismatic person is someone who has a good balance between the fire and the calmness but most people are either in this category that Cate category it's just a matter of revealing it you when is the fire going to come out when is the passion going to come out and other people you know they're just not moved you can you know uh the world can be coming to an end God forbid or or or This Disaster or this great thing and they're just their own merry self they just no change oh really oh really wow that's interesting you know that attitude without any fire CU that's their orientation and it's acceptable their they're the others come from from beina that's what is saying here the love that we're talking about over here in this chapter that Dr Reb says it's only Al that's greater than all is a love that is fiery and he's going to explain more why this is so let's continue and he says theu shall we're on the fourth line on page 140 towards the end he comes to this fire through contemplation when he thinks about God's greatness all is not as though it doesn't exist at all and when he realized is that everything that's before him in the world is like NADA zero without God is this person's soul will burn in in passion and in and in intensity to have the preciousness the dearness of God's greatness and the person will gaze means to gaze at B from the word yakar the dearness the preciousness of the king the Mal which is M like with a burning coal shall have a powerful flame that ascends upward and desires to separate itself mayila from the wick that keeps below the fire and it or the wood and the wood that the fire is is attached to the wood that keeps the fire here this is means the the severity which its element is fire El Godly fire that's within the Godly soul when a Jew has this um this intensity the person comes into a thirst the person is thirsty very thirsty spiritually speaking says in Psalms King David says when he was in midbar Yehuda Judean desert near where you guys live over there not tooo far right and David was kicked out and and before he returned he says God I'm thirsty for you I'm in the Judean desert it's beautiful I remember when I think um AI took us took us to Shilo isn't that in Yehuda am I right KRA no yeah whatever anyway wherever it was it was very beautiful and and you can even see far away but it's not the Temple Mount it's not Jerusalem so DAV says I want to return to ear David the city of David so he says in Psalm 60 uh four I believe 63 64 I think my soul is thirsty for you I have a strong passion and desire for you God I want to be there in Jerusalem and after having a thirst he becomes what we call like lovei he reaches a place of he's so in love with God and yet he doesn't have God cuz he's sitting in Jude in the Judean mountains and he's not in Jerusalem that he becomes sick have you ever have you ever had have you ever seen any someone who becomes sick from missing God I saw someone who became sick after the rebba became ill in 1992 he locked himself in the room he didn't come out and ultimately passed away and they had to bring him out he just couldn't face that reality I'm not talking about a newcomer I'm talking about someone who's a seasoned kabad but he just went into a depression so here we're not talking about a depression here we're talking about a positive depression is negative as we learned in t chapter 26 here we're talking about someone who has such a love for God that he becomes sick I I must have it I don't have it so so again what that's what I said I said that yes thank you I said that earlier anyway so we have have number one a thirst for I'm thirsty then he becomes he becomes what he becomes love sick for God and then there's a third feeling he can't take it anymore he can't be without hasem he sees it his soul see is extinguished cation of the soul in Hebrew now right you're thinking what does means he dies no doesn't die if you die you die dying is negative all these things of Sumer and of and the third stage of are all positive it's a proactive positive passion and tension for God I love you God so much I must have you I can't be without you and ultimately ultimately I seize to appreciate the physical and material and all I want is to be with you right the story I told you once just to repeat ital this great right growing up in kov in Ukraine in Russia he had friends they survived Stalin they come to to to ER is he's a teacher OFA there it's been years that he's seen his friend Ari ysf bitki he sees someone in the base medish he sees someone in the study hall and he says he goes over to me he says listen I'm giving you money get on a plane go to France where my childhood friend teenhood friend Aron yoseph lives and give him a hug that's all I want you to do and then you could come back he didn't tell him to sit and drink whiskey with him he didn't tell him to faing with him he didn't tell him to learn with him just give him a hug from mandal futas that I love him and he's and he's very important to me and you can return neish neish doesn't mean you end your life means you have such a feeling where the everything else in your life is not important anymore what's important is the attachment to God in this case for fotas it was to give his friend a hug but he's too old he can't travel so he sends someone younger to give his friend a hug again was that you know was it only that he was a thirst for his friend or Lovick for his friend or neish I can't tell you I don't know but regardless each of those would be can be an expression ex that's that's experienced through that type of behavior and I'm using that as an example we I think all [Music] of us here we know what that feeling is because we we always have that that longing you know we miss somebody a father a mother a grand who's in or or we can't you know so we say to somebody if you see him in SCH give him a hug for me I say okay good okay but remember what we're talking about honi is to the point where you're willing to give away the the feeling is I'll give up everything for for Hashem I mean you know and or or if for another Jew it's in other words it's it's not just you know a relative it it's this feeling that the material world the gsh world doesn't do it for me anymore how many cars can I own how much money can I have how how many you know it it doesn't it it does it doesn't it doesn't do it anymore you know I'm thinking and and trust me I'm a regular guy I'm thinking you know Thursday is my 40th anniversary so I'm thinking where am I going to go and I say well you know you're so close you're in Brooklyn you go across the bridge to Manhattan I don't have any desire to go to Manhattan there was a point that once a year I would take my wife out and would go to a nice restaurant a coach Restaurant Manhattan I don't know I just I just don't have that feeling you know I I I'll do it if it's the right thing to do and you know but doesn't talk to me anymore you know I'm I'm not 40 you know I'm older you know I've done that already you know in other words a person the more they learn the more they do the more they want to connect to God it's like m m always says I say maybe we should go let's go she's from Australia let's go this summer you know let's go to to Australia for two weeks your your grandparents are buried there you grew up there you know uh I'll treat you to to she says if I want to go okay maybe if I don't want to go anywhere St Ro that that's something meaningful E I mean we of course we have a daughter we have a son-in-law and grandchildren but that's the point that AR Israel Israel the Holy Land just walking on the cobblestones like I've told you of of yush you know makes me tear up you know makes me like wow what a what a privilege I'm able to to walk in on on on in the land of so what I'm saying is that the I'm just sharing out loud the that he speaks about here doesn't mean kill yourself you know uh lock yourself up and don't come out no you have to come out come out and put up PA fil now with another Jew didn't put on film today get go to visit someone in a nursing home you know make someone feel good Hi how are you what's going on make him laugh and if that becomes your modus aari then that's clish you might feel crummy inside maybe you're upset about something today but you are able to detach yourself from the your own personal struggles and do and and do something for someone else else that's the ultimate that's a great thing to be able to detach ourselves from things that are upsetting us and morbid and angry and upsetting and on and on and on and on and some of it's right you know but at the end of the day why should the poor man suffer why should a person who needs a smile not get the smile from you you know why because you woke up on the wrong side or someone hurt you yeah it's an issue you know but right now bring it to the other person so all I'm saying is that when we learn here in Tanya that this love of the thirst for God the love sickness for God and the it's intense feelings for Hashem that should be proactive in other words it's a it's in this proactive feeling for God that feel like I just want to be with God or I'm love sick for God or I'm thirsty for God okay we'll continue M tomorrow and everyone should have a good day what a very special I've never learned something like this of yeah no this is this is a a new idea that we haven't really tackled before chapter 50 in Tanya that's why we're learning the Tanya and we're going through it relatively you know slow and uh it's uh I asked several times my teacher abyo what I should teach people over all the years the the 40 years that I'm doing this type of work and he told me that the rebbit told him as a young man to teach Tanya so um you know and you know you guys you know what I'm saying you're from you're involved you're interested did but there were places where I didn't have such students and to teach Tanya to them was a a much more difficult uh way thing you know to to to so but it could be done it could be done and and and not enough is done and we don't have enough good teachers of Tanya you know you need to be able to teach the Tanya in a way that talks to all kinds of people because there's gold mines and I think as you see you know you could learn Tanya in various layers you could learn it from the deepest way to a cursory way to a psychological way to audic way you know there different ways of of of learning the Tanya um and it's important to to know your crowd like mha had me listen he sent me what the r the RV son RAB shapira's son was teaching Tanya there and I heard a few of those classes and he taught in a different way which was good cuz he was teaching it to people in the Sho who are not kabad or kabad oriented and don't have that background and frankly he doesn't have that background e either because he's he not kabad he didn't grow up that way in aich Yesa but nevertheless it was it I don't know if it's continuing but it was a very very good thing it's a very good thing you know wrote the Tanya for CLA Ro it's not only by laich it's for all of all yeden so if someone learns it in a certain you know uh non kabad way a Polish way a Hungarian way a Belzer way so be it you know as long as they understand that there's a lot more there it's not just you know a book of emotions like uh Miss it's a book of and otherwise it it it loses its um its um you know it Bible of if it's just another safer like shame or or or or Shalom then then then what's special about it they're all goods for every safer is Holy But Here There is the element of the kabad element and in an orderly way like I told you over and over as you see how he builds up look this chapter 50 is towards the end of Tanya why because until now we weren't ready we weren't ready to hear it we didn't have the the whole all those 49 chapters before to kind of you know understand what is and mitzah says and the person and the struggles and every once you have all that you're more mature you're more ready to hear more we'll see everyone tomorrow Z Shalom take care byebye