Tanya Igeres haTeshuva 1b - You are better than your sins - Positive Mitzvos outweigh - RC Dalfin

so we're learning the third section of Tanya we started yesterday I'll recap today on page 180 it's called a letter of what what's Loosely translated as repentance TVA or Chua means repentance although it literally means to return to retreat t means to return to return to your own self to who you really are and that's going to be explained later in the chapters and it'll give us a completely new insight into what shuva is an Insight that's different than the way the traditional Jew for centuries perceived tsha the traditional Jew perceived tshua as I did a sin and I have to repent mind you that has Christian um Christian over you know overtures the whole idea of you know sin and repenting is a is on the face of it a very Christian approach the Torah approach is you need to you need to be yourself why because a Jew is always themselves even when they have sinned the sin the transgression is schutz dirt for example you're riding your uh you're taking a a hike in in the bemish Hills or in the cat skills and it's there's it rained and it it's very you know schoy and then dirty and wet and and you put your feet in there have you changed have you changed no you're the same Hill sain in New Mexico and Baltimore Bish sorry I mean of course in Bish you're a different Hill T but my clothes got dirty my feet are wet I'm more uncomfortable I smell whatever right y but the person hasn't is same person the AL teaches us and this is why it's so important this these chapters here to understand that a Jew a ye has a soul on shama that we learned in the first section of Tanya right The Godly Soul the the that is with the Jew from the beginning to the end regardless of what the Jew does but the Jew soils himself and stains himself with a lot of dirt at times and a lot of schutz and a lot of bad smells oh so we have to just take a good shower clean yourself up it g Chua is the system of one second one second Chua is the system of cleaning ourselves up but not that you know by committing by doing a sin a transgression we've lost our soul you we've never lost our soul because a soul is beyond the capability of losing it you can't lose your soul God gave you a soul and God says I don't take away your soul your Nisha because you're a bad boy you did something inappropriate you're not a bad boy you're a good boy you did something that was wrong you didn't know or you had an Indulgence an infatuation on and on so we're going to teach you a system of cleaning yourself up this is the the mape of Thea that we're learning now and as I said yesterday it is so vital for the overal theme of Tanya to be a potential bany to be someone who can refine themselves in their thought and speech and action this is actually a necessary ingredient someone want to ask something or say something yes y yeah yeah re there's a there's a story I think was the Ala the story with the the horse and the cart and the mud right I could be getting it wrong the story but something how the rebel went into the into the mud to help a fellow ye um when his cart got stuck with the horse and he said something that in order I think it's the Al he says in order to do sometimes mitz you got to get dirty you got to get yeah that that's yeah but that's talking about in order to do the Mitzvah here I'm talking about if a person got a person got dirty because of doing a sin not a mitzvah again so you're right in what you're saying but it's not the discussion of these chapters here here we're talking about our weaknesses so yesterday in the we began learning D begins on page 180 he brings the BR at the end of tracted yat one of the tractates of the tal Yuma is about the day from the word yon which day the day of atonement y Kipper all the details about y Kipper are in Tred humor so there it speaks about three different categories of forgiveness for sin and it says number one if you didn't do a positive Commandment that you're told to do for example we're told to put on filling daily and for some reason we don't put on one day two days whatever the mishna says you need chuva you need something called toua and by doing Chua you're pardoned you're forgiven what if you violated what's called a MIT say God says don't eat the ham and the pork and the shrimp and you did do that or you insulted your friend it's just as a violation and maybe even a greater one than the eating non kosher you need chuva but Chua is not enough you need to wait for the following young Kipper and atone for those issues on your Kipper so if you just do chuva and you don't engage in the in in in yipper following the the violation of Lo the prohibit proh prohibitions that God says don't do Chua is not adequate you need yipper that's the second category and the third category is if you did such transgressions that involve what we call CES um excision and M bezin that the bethin rules that you're obligated to have Misa and it's very severe type of sins involving uh incest and adultery and all kinds of things um which is uh real life let's let's call a spade a spade there you need you need not just Chua and not just y Kipper even y Kipper is not enough you need you need to go through yourin punishment because the stain is so deep that the washing machine can't take it out you got to give to professional cleaners and when you give it in they put on special you know all kinds of um sprays and the sprays sometimes hurt the shirt and the pants and those are called you yes that's what theal say what what if you take it with a you're only saying punishments of love if you ex are to give benefit toik that's not a punishment right okay let's let's let's let's continue so these type of are are necessary necessary in order to get rid of our issues that are of C's Bez in very severe transgressions so and this is talmud this is not this is not it's not Caba this is one1 basic mishna and tal Bry and tal and there's a lot to talk about it as as Yoni and is spoke about and and much much more anyway says we find that when it comes to let's say wearing titas the fringes right the fringes the Garment that's under the shirt if it's we have an obligation we say it in the every morning every evening right right there's also there certain mitz and is one of them what if your ties have wool and linen together like many do the the Garment is wool and the fringes Are linen or some combination of wool and linen the is you're supposed to put on those S because and here I'm going to answer your question is that you asked yesterday and I discussed it yesterday last night with another when we say in other words put on the ti even though the tias are shess shockness means a mixture of wool and linen which is a clear violation the Torah just like eating non kosher is a violation wearing wool and linen together is a violation so how can you put on censes that have wool and linen the answer is when we say that the a say the the positive commandment of putting on C it's not that there's a l there it pushes it away and there is no low s at all that's what the rabbi said why they said it how they said it when they said it I'm not going into that but when we talk about the logic of a positive Commandment that comes simultaneously together with a negative commandment the the sages say the negative commandment is it's pushed aside there is no negative commandment here so is asked yesterday how is that different than mitvah a a Mitzvah that comes by doing an A and the answer is now it's it's clear because a Mitzvah means in the Mitzvah there is a not that there's no an a there is an A in the mitzvah in there's no anymore that's what the sages say now you want to understand it more okay but technically there's mitv when you do a mitzvah for example you steal a PA of fill and you put or you steal money whether it be from the government whether it be from someone else and then you say I'm giving a donation to a charity to a Sedaka and they put your picture on social media and you're all of a sudden wow and people who know say you're such a ghif you gave stolen money to Seda right what type of Mitzvah is that it's a Mitzvah that comes with an AA the a is intrinsic in the Mitzvah it's not that the AA left that money is stolen money did you give it to charity yes you did but that charity money has in it an AA which is stealing when it comes to putting on a a pair of tites that has shockness the kazal say there is no prohibition now you're asking how could that be it's sharpness that's what the kazal say that the MIT is so powerful in that scenario that it eliminates the Lo in this SC in this scenario in another scenario if you sit on a cushion by the way are you all sure your cushions don't have sharpness in it you know there were some from people very from very who made sure that their cushions that they were sat on was not shotless when I grew up here every suit we bought we brought it to a shess checker probably you have that in err as well right today they they they still do it but they they know more or less where Suits come from is it Italy or Europe or China here or there and they've done some tests and therefore they know pretty much what is shot this or not but still one should check so but but but so in other words it's not that sharpness all of a sudden is eliminated that there's no more shess of course there's sharpness but in this scenario there's no shotless okay let's go back so I hope it's that that addresses your question but going back to the text here the has a question if we say say which is greater the positive or the negative commandment the positive you're telling me the the positive commandment of wearing titas outweighs the negative commandment of shortness of mixing wool and linen so if that's the case what's greater the positive commandment well he says that contradicts what it says in the in in in Yuma the end of the tracted Yuma in the Bria which says that for MIT say all you if you didn't do a MIT say all you need to do is truva but if you created Lo a Prohibition Tru is not enough you need to do yipper so that that implies that that a mitz is greater than a mitz that's the question the opening question of the AL in the beginning of of of what is the purpose of this question Al is writing he's he's he's prating the B Torah this is not a book of talud so in the first page here there's going to be quite a bit of of tal and and there there's people have the Reb starting the Reb and and others F have found in in this opening page of the AL tremendous Novelties in Judaism in t Judaism but the the question that one needs to kind of ask himself is this is not tal so thank you very much there's great insights here and novelties but we're not learning tal we're not learning so the answer the idea the thought is that the balat seeks to to to to explain to us what a Jew is what toua is and in order to do that to do that you need to understand what you're doing what are we doing Mark what are we doing we put filling on the morning that's a mitz say a positive commandment we don't violate chabas that's the Fulfillment of a negative commandment so so and basically all a Jew's life from the moment they wake up and are born till they they they they pass on is governed by MIT MIT so it behooves us to understand what they are and how they operate in order order to become clean and to become elevated and to reveal our real self we have to know what we're doing so this is what he's explaining here and briefly he says a a new insight that is pretty much his novelty and the rambam and all everyone else didn't at least discuss it and probably didn't even think this way and that is the alter says that the truth is a mitz say is greater than a mitz yes yes sirash I just had this insight into the famous story about and when becomes upset that he can't in says why are you upset you're still serving a KES here's the answer because if he does the he's bringing illumination into the World by not ding that's right that's right you got it and so following up on what what is said nowb says when you do a MIT say you bring light into the world right when you do a positive commandment a every positive commandment brings an or a light Y when you don't do it for whatever reason in the termin know of the AL over here the or is lacking vable the or is missing you had an opportunity to bring this light into the world and you didn't right now guess what it's a missed opportunity and it's such a missed opportunity you can't make up for it and the AL quotes a similar idea in this in the Kaz someone who misses the saying of sh and we discussed it yesterday don't want to go into it the the sages use a very severe expression it's amongst the sins that one cannot correct that means by 8:30 in the morning over here we have to say the shma because after 8:30 it's already after the time of shma for example or 9:30 whatever it is is what if I didn't do it I didn't get up till 11: and and you say shma it's very nice my friend but you missed it and today the opportunity for bringing that light into the world is gone and guess what chuva cannot bring it down but the Mish says you could do chuva says the AL that the chuva for a mitzvah I say is regarding another issue and that issue is it you're doing chuva for the Rebellion that you did against God that trua will work for but the light an energy that you were supposed to draw down by putting on Fillin or by saying shma Etc and you didn't you cannot bring it back down impossible so the AL says look how great a MIT say is that unfortunately when you don't do the MIT say you can't bring it back down that shows you how high and great and it's the highest of the high is the MIT say when it comes to a Prohibition that you weren't supposed to do something and you did it the rabbi say you can't still wipe it away and that's called tickle you can correct it how you need y Kipper but when your Kipper comes and you say yourself Hashem please forgive me for this and this prohibition God says I accept your tshua and I'm giving you a tick you are corrected you are no longer longer spiritually crippled I cannot say the same thing about missing an opportunity for Fillin or any other Mitzvah that you're supposed to do if you didn't do it you didn't do it simultaneously we understand oh so that's why we understand why a MIT say pushes aside say wear your ti even though there sharpness but MIT the energy of MIT is so powerful that when you put on your ties it disolves the the prohibition do that word do it dissolves it it pushes it aside it eliminates it but when it comes to chuva which is what we what we're talking about at the end of traed Yuma we're not talking there about the energy of an a compared to a Los essay we're talking about tick oh when it comes to tick ticken won't help for an a tick will only help for a Los so it's not because a Los say is greater than an a say no just the opposite you understand when you learn this piece of talmud you can ask anyone that learns in any Yesa at any time and they'll tell you the Mion saying that a l i say is tougher is stronger is greater than I say and the balatan chapter one of a trua is just the opposite he says the reason why there's no truth why you don't need your Kipper to forgive for for not doing the mitz say because y Kipper can't accomplish it why because once the light's not there no ticket in the world will help you and this line of thinking on one hand you can become very depressed on the other hand it's it's great you know why just think about every time you have an opportunity to do a positive commandment bar Gordon every time you're drawing down an energy and light from Hashem that's the highest of the high one putting on filling on one morning is greater than anything else now you understand why the stand on Fifth Avenue 47 Street or at disl Center and they put on ask a Jew to put on fill and they WRA fill with the person and the person goes into a non kosher and eats shrimp and pork and whatever else and doesn't keep shabas and on what's the purpose ask the my friends here the the other that's their question ask the lit Fox what what are you guys what are you guys accomplishing with putting on filing one time with a Jew they they're not following and they don't know they have no idea what the Alba writes here and explains it so beautifully that the power of a is such a connection that makes the soul more connected the fact that a person goes into a non kosher restaurant right after putting on fillan even if he does that a a believe me if the person put on filling he might go there but he won't run there he'll walk there and guess what and at times he might say he sits down he says you know I'm not going to eat the shrimp I'll eat some a salad you know whether the oil is kosher or not okay that that resolve not to eat something that he normally doesn't care about and he says you know I just put on Fillin I just did such a holy act binding the straps on my head and on my hand what's going on here oh because there's a God and there's a hand an action and there's intellect and we're binding ourselves it's going to make an impact the story I tell over is from RAB khad the Reb secretary who would be walking on UD Avenue in Brooklyn before the riots in the 1960s where many Jewish uh people owned stores was was a real uh yish place and uh there was one fellow who uh was a Jew but he kept the store open on shabas ROV would make it his business either on the way to sh and on the way back from SCH to pass the store and he stopped he wouldn't go into the store because shabas but the person noticed him just doing that and after a while he closed the store and they asked him and he didn't become Orthodox so they said he didn't become from like what happened he said I couldn't tolerated anymore that the rabbi stops in front of with his white beard with his beard in front of my store the guilt I got from it now that's a you know both a positive and a negative commandment keep shabas and don't violate it okay my point is that from doing a positive Mitzvah you draw down such an energy that it has in it the atomic bomb of electrified yish kite and soul energy that will overtake will make a difference okay it begins with that one time putting on Fillin or one muuza in your house or one chabas meal and making a blessing so don't under estimated but that's not what the AL is talking about here openly I just want you to understand that when we learn you know even these things you can you can extrapolate and understand the philosophy that the balat started it's not the the last our rebba who told us to go you know to go and bring Jews back and open kabad houses it begins with his ancestor the balat in cha Etc so continuing the thought let let's look now page 180 I want to learn a little bit inside um it's in the middle of the page about 12 lines from the top it's the last word on the line it says over it's after a period someone who desecrates a a negative prohibition doing so he attaches negative energy to his soul by do by violating the [Music] prohibition he does two things he makes a blemish in heaven in heaven but not just in heaven and it has no connection to him in the source from where his soul is carved out of from that Holy place in heaven that his soul carves out is now blemished crippled and the AL brings in the parenthesis the technical capitalistic uh location if you're into uh the pipelines of of of of Judaism he says this would be in the garments of the 10 aminations of the world of action it says in quote God made every soul have garments from there flies out comes out souls for people Etc the bottom line is that it comes from that location says after the after the parentheses look there is no atonement for one Soul after transgress transgressing the and and and that and the person's soul as it's from on he in heaven doesn't receive atonement until y Kipper and here the question is what is it about y Kipper is it Abracadabra put on your white shirt your nice dress Clos go to Sho fast and you're atoned wow what an easy way out okay it's 24hour fast it's not from from dawn to dust you know to Nightfall 12 hours 15 hours it's a 24 to 26 hour fast it's worth it if I can get atonement for my issues Yi I'll do it I'll do once a month I'm willing to do such a fast if I know Hashem says you could you know all your sins that you did during the month if you do such a fast one time I forgive you I mean come on really really says the AL let me tell you about Yer let's let's read further he quotes the in the Torah the [Applause] [Music] verse you will atone for Holiness from the defilement of the Jewish people the children of Israel and their sins how before God you will become purified says the AL the words in the verse are before means specifically why why doeses it say in the verse why does it say he could have said you become pure what do mean of course we're talking about before God says no that's why it says because you know where your atonement is coming from higher than God means greater than is is already a condition the the V the first G the u k and the V and the K four compartments four conditions over there you got to meet the conditions you K the first K is Bina mid in other words you have to fit into the intellectual the emotional the Practical and the communication in other words you have to fit in is greater than those conditions if you touch that place in God and that's what happens AER there's atonement why what does atonement mean I sinned emotionally I was rude to my wife I was nasty yeah that's I embarrass someone that's a sin that's a transgression right now for that you got to say I'm sorry you know that H says Jewish law says Mark you know Jewish law says that your Kipper only atones you or forgives you for the transgressions between you and God not between you man and man if I hurt you insulted you Mark I need to call you before young ker and say Mark I'm sorry please forgive me and the the law is and if you say the first time no I'm supposed to call you back three times after three times I don't have to anymore but I have to try three times to gain forgiveness from you if I hurt you or insulted you between man and man you you you're on your own your ker don't do it for man and man what does Yuma do between God and man so the question is if I if I committed a sin a transgression how does you Kipper by fasting forgive it if if in other words if I need to do a specific thing to to receive forgiveness and I didn't do that specific thing right I am I embarrassed I stole no sorry I I I didn't I I I I I ate bread on PES God says for seven days do not eat bread and I did eat bread how does forgive for that and I can't make a change now I already ate the bread last PES the answer is I have you have to reach a place that goes beyond conditions and there's a place in God for that and guess what that is revealed on y specifically at the IL the closing fifth prayer that hour before the end of yipper that is it's shape up or shape out time and that's where you could get in because it's says the here that the reason whyer is able to bring tick correction to our inqu it is our transgressions is because we reach a place of and God Almighty said I'm going to give the world the Jewish people once a year an opportunity to talk to me in in in that domain to relate to me in that domain which is a a domain of transcendence so although throughout the year I goofed up and I didn't meet the conditions there's one a year where you can go beyond very powerful thought it's such a powerful thought that we're relating to God the Transcendent God not the god that's boxed into conditions which is the God throughout the year and very important and very necessary right TI for rules and regulations you know I don't know if you could say this as an example but um what do they call when they give amnesty you have tickets parking tickets these tickets that tickets once in a while they'll give you amnesty the amnesty period why go figure after Co during and after Co everything was down tickets were being the court dates were pushed off two three years no one showed up they said just you know it's in a way the amnesty is the again it's it's it's a terrible example because it's not really amnesty is still within the guidelines of of civil law but I'm saying just if you take the concept that there's a a time and a place where although you have committed a violation a a a driving violation a parking ticket violation all that I'm going to look the other way and say okay go scotf free by the way it's a very important point over here although the he talks about it you should know in in over there really spends a lot of time discussing this idea but it's a it's a very powerful idea and you know we shouldn't have to wait for yum Kip for it in other words if we could live today like y Kipper we'll get that we'll get it spiritually y Kipper it's in the open it's yipper but in Concept in mind in mindset if we could live a y Kipper experience today and that's what chuva is really all about where hey the fact that yesterday I I goofed up and I sinned and I transgressed and all of that that's within the realm of conditions Rise Above It Go to your real essence and your real Ence is pure and beautiful oh and when you get in touch with that you're in love with God and and of course I'm I'm not interested anymore in all of these you know things that are not healthy spiritually for me I have a different Paradigm start over start fresh it ain't going well for years make a change change your location change your luck masle even though a Jew is beyond luck but the concept is there is such a thing I remember years ago one of my daughters was trying to find a and it wasn't happening she said I need to pick myself up and go to ER Ro she went to ER Ro a few a few weeks later she was a calla she she became engaged there is that concept there is a concept called sometimes people change their living quarters it's not because Fort Lauderdale isn't great or Brooklyn isn't great or bemish isn't great but sometimes if we feel we need that Shin we need that change of mule we move again I'm not I'm not suggesting we make a habit of this but we do find such a concept or a person's feels in a rut and they ask why is it happening to me this is negative this is bad this is no good well sometimes the answer is change your place physically move elsewhere and the location the so the question is how is it if the issues are within me and in my experiences how by moving from here to there is it going to change the answer is cuz you might be able to tap into the again can you tap into leem where you are yes but sometimes you're so bogged down by the conditions you can't you can't unleash yourself you're stuck what are you doing you're stuck most people get morbid depressed angry frustrated says that when you get Stu when you feel you're stuck take the opportunity of of doing something I I've said this over the years to you I remember from my own youth in Yesa Mar down from near where uh Mark comes from and his father was involved helping the Yeshiva there ra a h there were times when I would stay up all night I mean I every night I learned late but sometimes I would stay up all night and it was very hard to do I'm talking about all night not going to sleep not even for an hour or two and I did it to break the habit to break the Habit what's the Habit you going to a bed every night and it's the right habit so you I'm able to get up early DAV and teach you right so it's the right habit but there are times you say I I I don't want to be in that that in that rut I want to break out so you you you stay up all night and you do one time you've like you've cleansed yourself you know you've cleansed yourself psychologically and emotionally it's tremendous it's so cathartic it's so therapeutic the AL here in t when he talks about the cha for mitz which is a TI a correct me he talks he says you know why Yer accomplishes that [Applause] because is like is is analogous analogous to what I'm saying breaking out doing the unusual we will continue tomorrow think about it because it's very very important Shalom Z take care