Sefer Tomer Devorah: Chapter 7 Executive Summary, Chapter 8 Rectifying Netzach & Hod

This Torah class is brought to you by torahanytime.com. Okay, my rabbeim, welcome everyone to today's Tanya of the Vaira. Before we move on to the next chapter, which is chapter eight, let's have a brief review of chapter seven. Skoyach to Rav Nosson Adler for writing the summary. So, chapter seven talks about Tiferes. How a person could train himself with Tiferes. And um The Tanya of the Vaira says that the main aspect of Tiferes, which by the way says over here, um Tiferes is a combination of Chesed and Gevurah. Avraham is Chesed, Yitzchak is Gevurah, and Yaakov is a combination of both, Tiferes. We also had that Tiferes is emes, and that's why Yaakov is compared to emes. And Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, who was the gilgul or a nitzotz of Yaakov, said "Kol she he Tiferes min adam, kol she he Tiferes lo isah, the Tiferes adam min adam." Now, the Tanya of the Vaira says that a very important aspect of Tiferes is defined by learning Torah. That's how the Tanya of the Vaira uh defines Tiferes. Tiferes is eisek baTorah. But, we have to be very careful not to be arrogant, otherwise it causes the Torah to be above us and uh we don't have access to it. So, we need to um lower ourselves primarily in three ways. We need to be mashpil atzmeinu. We have to lower ourselves to our talmidim, which causes Tiferes to influence its talmidim, which are Netzach and Hod, which are the subject of today's uh perek perek ches. One has to be careful not to be elevated above the poor, otherwise the poor man, Tiferes, will be elevated over Yesod. Then, if a person is properly humble to the poor, Tiferes can influence Yesod. And also talmidei chachamim have to be careful not to be misgaya over amei ha'aretz because it will cause Tiferes to be not able to influence Malchus, but when someone is humble to aniyim, then Tiferes could be mashpia on Malchus. Malchus is called the aniyah, the poor woman. So, the tal- the talmidim, to the ani, and to the aniyah. Now, we also learned yesterday that when one learns Torah one should um learn in the proper mindset. What is the proper mindset? To be masakin the Shechinah. And to rectify it to Tiferes, and that is to learn Torah lishmah. Learning Torah lishmah means to get to the right location. That's why we call it lesheim shamayim. Why? Because shamayim is ish shamayim. We're going to combine Gevurah and Chesed. Tiferes, which is a mix of Gevurah and Chesed. Um now, if a person wants to argue in Torah, if it's to get to the bottom line, that's good. And uh also, another thing is one should not take personal pleasure in Torah, otherwise one emits it to a secular cause. But, instead one should have in mind to learn Torah to bring pleasure to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Okay. So, this was an excellent uh review. Let us proceed now in perek shmini. Um Okay. So, perek shmini talks about the uh next two sefiros, actually the next three sefiros, which are Netzach, um Hod, and Yesod. Now, Netzach and Hod interesting, are also a reference to Chanukah and Purim. So, Chanukah is Hod, Netzach is Purim. She was somehow used in Netzach, and Hod, which is the eighth sefirah, is Chanukah. And the interesting thing, Netzach and Hod are called tamchin d'Oraisa, the supporters of Torah. And this is a very important Yesod, because we all know about the importance of regular study of Torah. And what we're going to learn today is that the regular study of Torah is not enough. So, you say, "What do you mean it's not enough? What else would you need to do other than the regular study of Torah?" And that's what we learn today. "V'ulam b'sikuinei Netzach v'Hod in the corrections of Netzach and Hod, ktzasam meshutafim lishneihem." Part of them are joined up for both, "Uktsasam meyuchadim kol echad l'atzmi." And part of them are designated, each one for themselves, meaning there's some of the some of the rectifications we rectify both Netzach and Hod, and sometimes we rectify Netzach separately and Hod separately. Says the Tanya of the Vaira, "Hinei rishonah tzarich l'sayei'a lomdei haTorah chizkah." The first thing is we need to help those who learn Torah and to strengthen them. So, you say, "That's for a very wealthy people. But, I am not wealthy. I could barely uh eke it out myself. So, how do I how am I mechazek lomdei Torah? Indei mamonai? Whether with monetary "O iv ma'asaihu" or with action. How is that? "L'hazmin lohem tzorchei shimush." To prepare for them what they require. Now, what does someone who learns Torah requires? "V'hazmanas mazon." It's preparing their food. "V'hafakas kol tzorcheihem." Preparing what they want. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean uh basic necessities, even something that's a preference. There's a concept of uh strengthening the those who learn Torah by supporting them, whether it's financially or supplying them with what they need. Why? "Shelo yitzterech l'vatalah midevei Torah." Because if you help them do A, B, or C, they'll have more time to learn. Furthermore, heaven forbid to ever disparage their teachings. "V'hizoher shelo l'ganei talmudam." You have to be careful not to disparage their teaching because you're going to weaken them. In other words, you know, you got to be careful, because if you fall asleep during the rebbe's shiur then the rebbe feels deflated. And he feels like, "I don't know, maybe I'm not a good maggid shiur, or maybe it's not interesting, or maybe I should go sell used cars or something." So, you want to strengthen them, so to um you want to show your interest so that they're strengthened in their learning of Torah. "Ela l'chabdam v'halel ma'aseihem hatovim." You want to show them honor and praise their good deeds, "Kedei she yischazku ba'avodah she yeish lahem." So, that they could be strengthened in their service. "V'l'hazmin lohem s'farim." To prepare for them their s'farim. There might be a sefer that they can't get. So, that's also a way of being mechazek lomdei Torah. "Tzorchei iskum in their learning u'vei hamedrash." Um that they need in their learning or in the beis medrash. "V'chol ki yotzei." Or whatever it might be. "Shehu chizuk v'say'ah l'iskum Torah." Which support which provide strength and support for those who learn Torah. "Hakol talui b'shtei middos ha'eileh." Strengthening the lomdei Torah are dependent on the middos of Netzach and Hod. The Zohar HaKadosh tells us that when um Eisav hit Yaakov in the hip socket, his intention was like this. He knew he would never be able to stop Yaakov Avinu from learning, but he figured if he stops and weakens the supporters of Torah, that would indirectly cause a uh diminution in the learning of Torah. After all, "Amein ain kemach ain Torah." So, there's a concept that Yaakov Avinu was hit in the hip socket. That means throughout history, there are many people who like to learn and want to learn and do learn, and not so many people who have the foresight to support Torah. In fact, Chazal say that even if a person learns Torah, they're still not excused from hatzakas Torah. In fact, Chazal say, "Someone who's not able to learn but is able to support, and he supports, about such a person we say, 'Baruch Asher Yakim es divrei haTorah ha'eileh.'" Fortunate is someone who upholds the Torah. But, someone who is able to learn and he learns, and he's able to support, and he doesn't support then that's "Arur Asher lo Yakim es divrei haTorah ha'eileh." And Eisav attacked both of these and uprooted both of these. And this fits well into the idea that Eisav tried to uproot Chanukah and Purim, which also are called the tamchin d'Oraisa. "Kol echad k'fi kocho." Everybody in accordance with their ability. Now, this is a very important idea, because many people are very uh feel very close to what I call social welfare organizations. Many people feel they should support Hatzalah, and they should. Many people feel they should support Bonei Olam, and they should. Many people feel they should support Chai Lifeline. But or Bikur Cholim of whatever city you live in, and "Kulam ahuvim, kulam berurim, kulam giborim." They're all great. However, the priority in tzedakah is hatzakas Torah. And the reason the Chofetz Chaim explains is because giving ma'aser is in lieu of ma'aser that went to the Levi'im. And the purpose of giving ma'aser to the Levi'im is "L'ma'an yischazku ba'avodas Hashem." So, likewise, ma'aser today is to strengthen people in avodah. Says the Tanya of the Vaira, "Kol ma she yarbeh bazeh l'chabed es haTorah." Whatever you do to increase to honor the Torah and to strengthen it with words physical and monetary and to inspire the hearts of people to the Torah so that they should be strengthened in this. Meaning inspiring other people to be strengthened in the Torah. All of this is um intermingled and rooted in these two spheres because these are called those who hold on to it and the supporters of Torah. I'll end off with an amazing sofer who quotes from his rabbi Nathan Adler. We know the aron had badim and those badim were never allowed to be removed which is very strange because since the aron carried those who carried it then why are you not allowed to remove the badim? And the sofer quotes his rabbi Nathan Adler. Nathan Adler says the badim of the aron represent the support of the Torah. So one may think okay, I supported last year or last month. But the admonition of the Torah is do never never remove the badim of the aron. Because the support of the Torah just like the learning of the Torah is something that should be steady. So you'll say but you know that's that's going to hurt. That hurts. So the Torah says don't worry. The badim were not really needed. You think when you support Torah you're supporting the Torah. No, the aron it's the Torah that carries you. So what we're learning is that uh wise people I remember um after of Miller passed away I went to hear his grandson who has his mamala makam. So he's talking about the Hafetz Chaim who talks about the smart investment of supporting Torah because in actuality it's then the Torah that supports us. Okay and what what we're learning is that when one supports Torah one is giving strength to the spheres netzach and hod and causing great bracha to the whole world. Okay, thank you everyone for joining. That's the same we'll pick it up tomorrow. Uh in the next part of netzach and hod and slowly making our way through the safer Torah Vedavera. Wishing everyone an amazing rest of the day. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com.