Tanya Kuntres Acharon 4d- Rabbi Cunin & his 17 million dollar debt - Tohu & Tikun- RC Dalfin

Anyway, so then the other thing that the alterb emphasizes in this chapter is the whole idea of mitzvah. And that's where we're at now, that mitzvah, a mitzvah connects to the creator, to the boret. There's two words that we need to remember. Bor and nra nra means creation. Bor is the creator. You won't hear you you won't hear people referring to God as the bor much but that's that's the truth. Hashem is the bor the creator. Now when you say creator you're automatically saying that the there is a creation because if there's a creation there's a creator and if there's a creator there's a creation. On one hand, that's already a limited aspect of God. In other words, you're confining God to creation. And philosophically, if you ask yourself, is is is God is God relegated only to creation? No. When God wants to be a creator, he's a creator. When he doesn't want to be a creator, he's not a creator. In other words, creator is already a limit a limitation on what we call the essence of God in Hebrew in the language of coming from the word essence. Atmos doesn't have any name any name any condition. Atmos means essence. Why? Because that's what God is. God is the pure essence. So the alterba says here explaining here that the mitzvah that we do which come from Hashem who is the mitzvah on one hand it's the way God invests himself in certain behaviors i.e mitzvah. So to say that that is all of God, it's not true. But to say that that's not God is also not true. This is what he's getting at over here in the section that we're going to study today. So please open your TAS. Again, I'm using now just the lessons on Tanya for this uh chapter. And we are [Music] um where are we? We're on um page 316 or 317. No, way way way further. You're way behind. You sure? No. I had my marker in the wrong place. You had You sure? Okay. Okay, I have my marker. Okay, so let's go to 318. Abu Dava. However, this refers to the where the regular Tanya what what chapter chap it's the countress a essay 4 and uh the page number I don't have but it's to towards the uh the middle to the end of that essays specifically the study of the cababalistic mysteries of the mitzvah for this is not inferior to the study of of its laws. on the contrary although he doesn't comprehend the essence more right when it comes to the order of the progression from of God's energy as it as it evolves from on high to below a mas even if he understands the facts It's not comparable um to the mitzvah which one understands the essence. Let me read the note page 319. The first note, knowledge of the various spiritual levels may indeed be superior for an unrelated reason, namely that it heads that it leads to a a complete heart, a whole heart, whole heart, a wholehearted awe of Hashem. And this as the alterba will later say is the purpose of all of the mitzvah intrinsically. However, gaining the the knowledge is not superior to studying the laws governing. Yeah. It says as though when you study it's as though you've actually done it, right? It says I'll say by studying the laws of of of the carbonus it's like you bring an actual carbon. Next page now the alterba points out the superior aspect to the study of and this is a reason why we learn. People ask what's all this level and just get down to the point. When you learn and have an understanding, it's like going to a professor who understands the the root issue of whatever the issue is. If I may say so and I don't know if the doctor will agree here but many times a doctor un sees the symptoms went to school and and deals with that way but a professor a professor understands the the ideologies and the philosophies in other words so on one hand he's missing the practical experience but there are certain things that he he He he can un he knows much deeper and better because of the the professorship. I I know this uh I heard this it's not my own kesh from um the former professor at McGill University uh James Brower Dr. Yakov Brower who was a professor of endocrinology. So he once told me once told me that um he's helped many women conceive who weren't able to have conceive. So I said to him why couldn't the doctors helped them? Because the doctors were dealing with the the practical stuff and uh it didn't work. But he said that in his field of study he was able to find you know going deeper going back more whatever I don't have the right words I'm not familiar with with this field but he was able to understand the what's behind the symptoms and because he understood that he wasn't we were talking wasn't uh you know just between he him and I so in other words many times if we understand the system in which Hashem creates the world which is calledos that's what it's calledos it it moves us more it it it attracts us more it's it's more impactful whereas if you don't then you're you're you're just dealing with a symptom when you're dealing with a symptom no one if you take care of the So why do I need it? In other words, this let me say it this way. If we were to understand the intricacies, these mystical intricacies of fillin. So it's not just about putting on fill daily because Hashem says in the Torah, the sages say put on films six days a week except except shab except shabas, except holidays. Okay, we would understand that without fill, it's like we can't function. we can't function because we understand that these intricacies these details make up make us up they they give us our daily dosage of of life. So the more you understand the mystical, what's behind the scene, the more it becomes relevant even when the practical has been accomplished. I I don't know if this would be emotional. I just thought of it as I'm speaking. You know, you could you could you could you could kind of say, okay, we're going to resolve. We're going to wipe out the kamas and we're going to end the war, right? But I'm sure that there are those thinkers uh strategists and everyone they're looking they're looking 10 years 20 years down the line they're studying the whole field the whole field of the Middle East it it you know so on one hand what they're missing is hey we got a problem today and we have enemies today and how are we going to you know deal with it today on the other hand in in the area of kind of looking and seeing a larger vision for for a future. Um that is necessary and the same is true with leadership and uh a leader a leader of of of of a nation a leader of a group needs to look at the group even after his time. If he only looks at the group as long as he is alive in a sense it's very selfish. Okay, you're very creative. You did it while what's going to be after your lifetime. So you have to so a good leader looks at the situation way in the future and sets up the situation today for way in the future as well. Then it's kind of it it'll work in in the future as well. So I I'm saying all this to explain what the alterb is about to go into this very cabalistic discussion of when you learn when you learn about the this world and that world and this level and that level you could be very dismissive and and many people are and many people don't have patience to go through the these essays for example it's like wow this is so capital cabalistic you know why why why learn it and wise alterba wanted it to be our daily learning and in the in the cycle of study and if you if you allow yourself to to think about it you'll see how it enhances at the end your overall understanding of Hashem the world your family and everything else so that's let's go with that hello look at the words the knowledge of the existence of it is also a lofty and exalted mitzvah indeed it outweighs them all all of the mitzvah and the study of the laws of the if someone says what's the source for this there's a verse in theem You should know today you should pay attention that God is elim. So what is the first things you need to have? What did uh I think it was was it Kahano used to say um a every Jew is good every Jew is good but a learner Jew is even better. They also said every Jew at 22. Yeah. Thank you. But that's a different department. But knowledge knowledge. Okay. Next page 321. Know the God of your father. How do you know God? You have to study God. Okay. It lead you to a whole heart. This is the primary thing that a go a Jew should have. This the heart should be motivated to comprehend this says you have to divest the idea from the physical. Rabel was once like giving a shir in in in borrow park had a lot of a lot ofum there and he's talking about these ideas and and someone said so where can I find that here in Burough Park where can I find Bria you know the answer is you can find it in yourself it's not a piece of kgle to eat when you learn and kabal especially you have to divest. Okay. Hel is called meashi to strip to divest the ideas from the physicality. Mashi, we use we use Gashmi physical objective objects and and and and and items to describe and make more palpable our understanding of the concepts. But at the same time, you have to know that we're not talking about something gashmous, right? We're not talking about a physical. It's a spiritual reality. Let's continue. This is one of the 13 because this is the coming from the what's called the external part of that's why you have to learn all the 613. Why do I have to learn all the 613 mitzvah? We're talking about learning now. We're not talking about doing learning. The three worlds because there are sparks that need to be elevated. including the sparks that are found in the world of creation, formation and action of the sparks. We do that are greater than the soul, spirit, soul within man. Okay, let me explain here. There's there's two names of God that we're going to focus on for a moment here in Tanya. Sag sag is sakim will equals 63 and one is and the other one is ma mehe 45 sag is the name of god and and and what's the difference the difference is how you spell the yudk vfke do you spell the yudk vfk with vavves or you spell the yud vke with haze in other words you could write a yud y udy yud you can write a yud yud vad You hear? So in other words, the the Hebrew letter Yud when you write it out, it can be written in various ways. And the same for the hey, V and hey. So depending on how you write it out and you equal up those letters, you get either 45, 63, I'm sorry, 45, ma, u 52, 63, or 72. My mistake before I said we're going to focus on 63 and 52, not 63 and 45. So depending on how so the so that it says in Kabala that the the name sag the name of God that equals 63 which is sama kiml which in English is sag s a g okay but it's really the Hebrew sag is the name of god that's associated with the world of toy the world of chaos which is which is that when there was a shattering of the sparks i.e in Hebrew that name of God is associated with that experience. So when you're involved when you're involved in rectifying in and you and and reuniting the sparks that fell from the great light and you looking to to rectify it, um then then you have to um then you have to do something to to do that. H how do you do that? What do you do? You you you Where is everybody? What's going on over here on the screen? Okay, got it. So, the way to do that is by by focusing on what the name sad deals with. Then you have the name of God equaling 52. Ban ban. Ban is the name of Hashem that's associated with tick the norm the norm. So now once we know this we it when we when we learn and we're talking about what's called toyu and tik chaos and and normality right we live in the world of tick I know sometimes it's hard to believe that we live in the world of tick because it's chaos all over but nevertheless this is the world in other words the objective here is to bring normality things should work out the puzzle should fit in tickling. But if you if you if you just use the energy of tickling, you'll never accomplish that. There'll be there'll be excitement um breakthroughs. The whole idea of you know a breakthrough a kush is from toyo. So to is not to be dismissed. The Reb told Rabbi Kunan of California in the 80s 828384 when he got himself into hot water financially with $17 million in debt. I was in the yeshiva then. So I saw this firsthand throughout the seven the 1970s. Rabbi Kunan was probably the first who or one of the first who you know did what the Reb called for to reach out to Jews. Twillin muza free tillin free muza labich in those days kabad in those days didn't charge you for twillin didn't charge you for it's hard to imagine now like you know 50 years later everything cost money and you know but it was a different time it was the the the the 60s that you guys are aware of the 60s and 70 was you know the free spirit the free spirit also had its counterpart in in the Jewish world especially in Kabad in in you know was like a free spirit you got to pay you got to pay to to to put a pair of filling on you need a pair of film here where is it coming from like Josh Gordon Rab Gordon you know told me at my balabatim when I was in Marin County he said who's going to pay for the gapilta fish in the refrigerator You want kilter fish, Shabas? Who's paying for it? Are you paying for it? Are you paying for it? The rabbi doesn't have the money. Who's paying for it? So, either you're going to have the filter fish or not. You want the filter fish, you got to pay for it. That attitude, that wasn't the 60s and 70s attitude. the the kabad rabbis make sure to have gapilta fish without asking their balabatan for money with or you know and just somehow and they'll they'll worry later they'll they you know they took credit in the store and later on either they paid or they didn't pay they did their best well Kunan did this type of behavior throughout the 1970s I could tell you firsthand I saw it got to a point where the banks were foreclosing closing on the properties in Kabad houses and he was $17 million in debt. 17 of Matria to he was to money in debt and the Reb saw her. He came to the Reb and the Reb I think gave him a nickel or a dime for and the Reb said at the Fabang what there means to be the lights of Tu in the vessels of Tik in Hebrew is the kaim the tikun the energy what does that mean the energy that you have kunan with breaking through and just doing for God and for yeden is wonderful on on an energy level but it has to be filtered through the vessels of tickling. The vessels of tik means there's a mortgage and there's a property and you got to pay your bills. So to to disregard the caim of tikken is not at the moment in the 1980s and it's true in the 1980s it all changed there was such a big shift if you guys think back to the 70s and 80s 60s for sure but 60s7s versus 80s and 90s of course with the dot era if you take a look and think about it there was a very big shift the in world world thinking, American thinking and in Jewish thinking. So the Reb the Rebba the Rebba saw that the Reb why didn't the Reb tell this to Kunan in the 60s and 70s? You know why? Because the time wasn't right for it. The 60s and 70s the time was just go for it. Yes. Yes. It brings to mind a story I don't think people have heard much but um the told the rebba once had said had this story that he had met he met an older man who had met these. So he he asked him to tell him you know uh tell him something. So he said well I was a young man and I was thinking of going into business. I was forskid and I was thinking of going to business with a gerassid and uh and um so I went to consult with the you know to see if it was a good idea and uh so uh and around that same time there was a Rob in his town a famous rub I don't remember the name now who had uh had been keeping some money for for someone uh it was like and uh he ended up using it to pay something else and he got in he got in trouble in this situation uh and uh so and um and and they uh and and the person had kind of called in their their loan or whatever they had given. So he was in he was in trouble. It was a big amount. And he goes uh to to meet the hoping that these will kind of bail him out because he had very rich uh richid. And he goes to meet with the and the uh uh gives him a small donation and says, you know, you should never go you should never go into debt. They don't make promises with money you don't have. He kind of chasens him and the guy leaves his office really chasened. So right after him uh is this is this and he goes in and he meets with the and the you know assures him that the business venture will be good and he says to him you know you're going back to uh you're going back to your town and and this this famous rabb is just here and he's traveling back there and it' be good for you to accompany him back. So he accompanies him back and he meets him up at the train station or something. And of course this Rav is like really chasened and and and disheartened. He doesn't know what he's going to do. And uh uh and he told him the whole story of what had told them. and uh and they're going back and and uh when they get to their town, there's a contingency of of Gasidum there of the wealthy. The SAS in the meantime had had cabled them and told him they should meet this man back at the train station and with with money with a money in a hand to to help him pay his his debt. But at the same time he uh he so he said that that this was this the Treb said this man had witnessed this whole thing personally. So I thought it was a great story. Right. Thank you. So, so I I we'll conclude now, but I just want to say that this idea of sag and ban because we'll learn more about it tomorrow. You know, on one hand it's like come on, what are we talking about here? You know, we're not cabalists. We're not mystics, you know, but if if you see it in your life that it boils down to, you know, paying your bills at the same time being, you know, super excited and and and fiery and with so much energy. So, the Reb told Kunan, I don't want you to lose your passion. The energy the oros has to be from the world of chaos meaning breaking through but it has to be filtered through ka the tikum through ka the tikum and I think that's very applicable today with the young people that that we don't want to break their excitement when a young person you know h has creativity don't break that creativity find ways of taking that creativity ity and channeling it through normal methods and and and established ways. So on one hand you don't because if if you're going to remove the creativity, if you're going to move the excitement from the young person, they'll never you lost them. You lost them. That story with the pencil right in the room was on the web a few years ago. how this kid in school was just being so obnoxious, banging with pencil the whole time and banging with a pencil and pencil pencil and the principal comes in. The teacher is going crazy and he says, "I I see that you you make a nice rhythm with your pencil." Da da da da da da da da d h come here. And and he says, "Could you could you bang this way? Could you bang that way and play?" And he became a world famous uh I don't know player, pianist. It was online remember he channeled his into cumin the tick and this is so important I see it you know with with family and friends and so important to to focus you know not everyone's cut out for learning all day yeshiva you know so if you focus in on what they're they're good at and what their potential is and then you put them into that role they'll be stars stars and they'll accomplish so much and guess what at the they'll at one day they'll say I want to know more Toyota tell you I want to learn a little more I want understand more so this is an example of toyo and ticken the combination not one as a substitute for the other right there there are people who and this the way some people are wired you know it's like anything that is uh you know kind of mild and outrageous and uh they run a mile away from. Then there are people that that all they could do is this this thrill. They have to have a thrill in everything they do. And anything that is less than a thrill is boring, uninteresting. The way Hashem creates the world is such that there needs to be a combination of the two. to take the thrill and to find a way of expressing it that has root that has roots. So not to obliterate and eliminate the thrill but to to find it within the system and and you should know that this is the whole idea of mitzvah. You could put fillin on every day but if it becomes a wrote thing okay your father did it your grandfather did it go back to Moses at Sinai 100%. But you know if you want it to be alive then you have to find a thrill in filling in fill in you know what is it about fill in wow. So in other words when you get up it's not I have to slap myself you know I have to do it again. No another opportunity I put on fill in. Wow. That's the idea. Will continue tomorrow. Have a great day everyone. Zoom. Shalom. Bye.