Text-Based Tanya Class—Week #56

so how do we normally say okay we say well no we don't say well do we say hold on let me just go on Amazon okay okay all right okay we akly text-based Tanya we're learning every single word of the Holy Tanya we're up to chapter 33. we're in the middle of 33. before and we're gonna with hashem's help finish chapter 33 today before we continue let's review what we did so far in chapter 33 but before we review what we did in chapter 33 let's go back to chapter 26. very very briefly in chapter 26 we started the focus on the overall General theme of what Joy yeah joy and what's the importance of Joy why Joy help us do mitzvah's better right the whole point of the book all 53 chapters of it is to help us serve Hashem better so that's that's the goal and in chapter 26 we introduced the idea that we need to be joyful and we need to defeat any negative emotional states in order to service Hashem properly so we were speaking about joy since chapter 26. and we dealt with various different aspects of joy and different uh threats to our joy that we need to figure out how to defeat and get around and to troubleshoot we got up to 33 and we started talking about a new source of joy specifically and meditation on a very happy thought we go to our happy place well it's a stream it's a little Meadow with a stream with the butterflies and no but it is what is it what do we what's our happy place from chapter 33 the Oneness of Hashem that's so abstract how does that translate into happiness what is what does it mean the Oneness of Hashem sounds philosophical say it to me on an emotional level that I can relate to what does that mean the Oneness of Hashem just sounds very very abstract Hashem is to gather with us with everything we do okay Oneness of Hashem yes what does that mean it means he's right here he's right here so we're meditating on Hashem is with us and when we think about the fact that Hashem is with us that we are not alone we're together with Hashem that is comforting and that is um encouraging and then what's more we think about the fact that well how is Hashem with us what allows Hashem to be with us because there's the objective reality which doesn't change and there's the subjective reality which depends on our mindset so we speak about the fact that because we are aware that Hashem is with us then uh to a certain extent that actually makes him with us where is God where you let him in like the old cutskar Fort okay and that causes us to be particularly happy wow look I have the Merit to be hashem's host remember we had the little metaphor about the house guest who's your house guest The King The King himself is your house guest okay and that's going to make me happy so that's what we spoke about in the beginning of chapter 33 you'll think about the fact that when you meditate on the Oneness of Hashem correct the implications the emotional implications of that are wow look how I've allowed Hashem to be present in my life down here in this world I am his host and that itself is a cause for Joy okay so that's what we covered so far now before we start you had a question about okay go yeah about the letters and we spoke about the race we spoke about the letters and the Rays of the Sun so let's just review that for everybody you're referring to two metaphors that the altadaba used to explain hashem's Oneness one metaphor was the letters of speech or even the letters of thought as they exist before they are articulated in other words when you have knowledge in your brain and you haven't expressed it outwardly or sometimes even to yourself expressing it outwardly would mean through speech expressing it even to yourself with me through thought so the potential for those letters exist exists in a in a state where it's it's not yet uh hasn't taken form as self-expression it's still part of the self and that was a metaphor that was a metaphor for how creation exists at one with Hashem that creation comes out but really it's in there it's it's in Hashem it's inside of Hashem just like things that we express um come from inside of us in a way where they're one with us in an indistinguishable form um and that was one metaphor the other metaphor to to describe hashem's Oneness was the race of the sun we said down here on Earth you can identify discrete rays of the sun oh there's a ray of sun there's a race I remember I talked about the famous uh photograph of the Grand Central Station yeah um and we said but if you trace the Rays of the Sun to the Sun itself you will not find rays of sun because the phenomenon of a Sun Ray ironically exists only when you get away from the Sun if you go to the sun you don't find sun rays you just find sun and that's the same idea again it's a metaphor for the Oneness of Hashem that down here when I say down here I don't mean spatially but I mean in this Physical Realm which we call down as opposed to up um we see different created beings it looks like there's a lot of different stuff but if you trace it to its source then you find Oneness just like you won't find sun rays in the sun you just find the sun okay those are the two metaphors just to fill everyone in get them caught up to speed you got a question about that are we like the Rays of the Sun well okay so wonderful question you know everything depends on context we've said that so many times right all right in this context we are observing the Rays of the Sun the truth is you could use this metaphor also to understand an aspect of our own existence how we are dependent upon Hashem but that's not the point here the point here is how we should view creation meaning you standing distinct from creation as a conscious Observer to use the term they use in quantum physics you're standing there as the conscious Observer and you're looking at creation and at first glance it strikes you as full of distinct entities created beings and then you stop you flip the switch and you realize how all of that is really just a projection of one single entity so to answer your question we are in this meditation though we are not sun rays we are we are the person observing the sun rays and having this Epiphany about the nature of sun rays but when we see another person there's a sunrise when we see another person there the sun Ray's wonderful question um well I think that depends wow and and you're thinking about this in terms of chapter 32 where we were supposed to recognize the godliness of a fellow Jew right right I bring her back to the source right so I guess the question again context what is the purpose of this contextualization well chapter 33 is that no matter what is going on we should realize that we're having an intimate okay so we're recording again yeah those are all full too okay video takes up a lot of memory okay I do a lot of the video editing of the I don't know if you guys follow all the creative output from soulwords but a lot of that is my own video editing uh yeah okay all right we had a little bit of technical difficulties uh but we're back um so where we left officer saying the point of the meditation is that whatever's going on in our lives we should take it as an intimate interaction with Hashem himself so we shouldn't be fooled by all the different things that we're seeing and I guess the way you're asking it is well what about different people and the answer is yeah don't let the different people distract us either whatever is whatever's happening it's all just a one-on-one conversation with with Hashem okay now if you're using that meditation as a way of appreciating the the real true spiritual identity of another person I'm not sure that's the right meditation okay but if you're using that meditation to remember that no matter what you're doing or who you're interacting with it's really all a one-on-one experience that you're having with Hashem then that's the right meditation to use okay excellent all right so we're going to continue now we were I'm gonna back up a line because in my excitement I pushed last week I pushed really fast at the end so we could got up to the line that I wanted to say about the double uh oh by the way Happy Chinese New Year I don't know actually I don't know if we're allowed to say that yeah Lunar New Year okay by the way I was very impressed that the Chinese New Year was when they when they announced when the mother would be in Shore which is the birth of the new moon so it was correct yes so um why am I why did I say Happy Chinese New Year oh yeah because um I I'm this I really hope there's not like a like a an idolatrous reference but I you know I'm actually ignorant about what the what about I just remember when I was a kid I used to notice certain restaurant named Chinese restaurant names which were like ubiquitous like every town you would go to you would see a a name yeah the Double Happiness like I bet you Google that there's probably a thousand restaurants in America called The Double Happiness I don't know what it is but anyways the Double Happiness we were speaking about last week the Double Happiness that we are happy that Hashem gets to be our house guest but we're happy as well that Hashem is happy that he gets to have his dwelling place here in this world so I'm happy for myself and I'm happy for him it's Double Happiness I wonder what the Double Happiness is in the Chinese restaurants okay okay at any rate so I'm gonna back out one like the his a double and redoubled joy in addition to the joy that we have in Hashem joining us AIDS but furthermore there's a Double Happiness Hashem that Hashem is happy that Hashem gets gratification when we have this faith that he is here with us okay and now we're about to go delve into what is so what what is so happy for Hashem about this you know they say what do you get for the man who has everything penicillin what do you get for Hashem Hashem has everything what can you know how hard it must be to shop for Hashem what are you gonna get him it's actually very easy 6 13. right and actually it's even easier than 6 13 because does anyone remember last week we said that the prophet came and he condensed all 613 myths was into one Mitzvah remember that I'm gonna yeah Faith so what do you get for the man who has everything what do you get for Hashem who has and is everything what doesn't he have caviarchal so to speak as it were after a fashion can God create a boulder so heavy that even he cannot lift it well I don't know the answer to that but what I I'll share with you a paradox and I don't even know where that comes from but I'll share with you a paradox that Sid this discusses which is wow Hashem creates a world by concealing himself and then desires to be let into that world but how can he be led into that world without canceling out that world you see in order to create it as we said he concealed himself if he'll reveal himself then he'll no longer be creating it so Hashem desires this Paradox you want to talk about what do you get for Hashem you get you got to Shem a paradox that's what you get for Hashem you get him a paradox the Paradox is that the creation continues to exist I as a created being continue to exist and yet within that I let him in without it overwhelming my created existence out of existence so how do we do that well ultimately we're going to speak about how this will this Paradox will become externally manifest in the era of mashiach but not yet in chapters 35 36 37 we're going to talk about as a a process which unfolds in the physical world and uh that's something that will be observed by all because it'll be an objective reality but right now at this point chapter 33 we're speaking about a subjective phenomenon that is something that you only perceive if you're capable of perceiving it and that is to realize that even though Hashem appears not to be here he is really here and by realizing that in your little keppy you are giving Hashem now Realms can mean different things later on like I said chapters 35 36 37 means the objective which everyone will see Jew non-jew even animals will see and that's why the wolf will dwell with the lamb and all that stuff because it'll be so objectively obvious it'll be empirically obvious even the materialists will will observe it but that's that's when mashiach comes until that point we have a subjective that exists in our own minds when we appreciate the fact that Hashem is right here and and that's what causes Hashem so much joy Hashem gets unique joy and nagas gratification satisfaction from being able to be present in a world which he designed to be inhospitable to his presence it's like I would I never thought of this way before but Woody Allen is famous for quoting Groucho Marx who said I would never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member okay there's something very Jewish about that aside from the fact that it's Woody Allen quoting Groucho Marx so God says I would not I would never be part of a club that would have me as a member but almost like I don't get so much nachas for being part of a club that would have me as a member in other words Hashem could show up in heaven and the malachim the Angels there they love it they're like here he is the CEO let's roll out the red carpet and it's like yeah it's not that exciting what Hashem gets excited about is to be invited into a world that he designed specifically to be inhospitable to him he created worlds plural in every world the word Islam I involved lamin ma'am Helen means concealment Islam is halam a world is a concealment every plane of existence and there are multiple planes of existence which compound each other to create more and more uh obscuration of the divine presence each one of those worlds is Ayla militian Hellam is a concealment which causes you to see less Creator and more creation and that effect compounds imagine like translucent curtains on a window that are piled up in so many layers until the effect is completely obscure each curtain is translucent but there are so many it becomes obscure so until you have so many oil mice and halam you have so many concealments you get down to hagashmi this physical plane the phenomenological universe and what happens is we see creation and we don't see Creator Creator becomes a philosophical construct which is a crazy concept absolute existence that which uniquely exists only Hashem truly exists everything else is just compelled into existence it's so crazy the thought that that which is ontologically independent Hashem who is the only entity which is ontologically independent becomes that which is oh all but a a philosophical idea whereas physical created beings which ontologically speaking are so tenuous those become like the gold standard of what's solid and what's real and what's Dependable it's such a twisted world right the nature of its existence ontological means the nature of its existence so it's it's the fact that it is so Hashem is ontologically independent and absolute meaning to say he is because he is everything else is only because it's being caused to be yeah so this is for the World At Large who perhaps man woman that doesn't have an idea or consciousness of Hashem but if you understand practice then the transit aren't really so translucent yeah yeah yeah I would beg to differ yeah I hear what you're saying but I would begging the difference because here's the deal when mashiach comes I don't care how much money you had and Thomas came when Michelle comes all of a sudden the veil will be lifted so even though we have a Mona and we know it's really all Hashem it really is hard to see it and and that's why you have to work at it and every day you have to recommit to it and it's like it's a deliberate state of mind that you have to constantly maintain and whereas like nobody has to get up in the morning I mean maybe borrowing some types of I'm not saying this to be humorous or glib you know a type of a mental illness barring that kind of case nobody has to get up in the world get up get up in the morning and say I need to recommit to the idea that the world the phenomenological world that my senses perceive is is stable and solid nobody has to do that they just take that for granted whereas Concepts like Divine Providence ongoing creation um those things you really have to have a brain in your head and meditate on it and and focus on it in order to be tuned into it so that that's what we mean is the very nature of physical reality and we're not saying the physical reality of the reality I mean I'm calling it a physical reality because it's real as Hashem created that's not like they'll have the like the Buddhists who will say it's an illusion I'm not saying it's an illusion but we're saying it's ontological Independence as an illusion or it's or a delusion as it were it is a deluded uh perspective to think that creation exists independently yeah um when when you say that worlds right the world yeah so I mean yeah I mean you're saying can you say planes of consciousness yeah you can say that because look there's an objective reality and there's a subjective reality but for all practical purposes what are we describing here we're describing the experience of it so what is the experience of being inazillus the world of emanation the highest World which is hardly a world so the experience of being up there we say is that the idea of creator of God is an absolute and take it for taken for granted and the idea of of uh Islam of a world of a creation is bisconscious as a novel concept it's a radical concept or maybe even you would say that it for them it's something that you can grasp through philosophical argument but you can't really perceive empirically so in the world of emanation God is an absolute reality solid indisputable creation is like this weird trippy idea they got to wrap their head around and then you go down to Bria and then creation becomes a little bit more of an accessible idea and God becomes a little bit more abstract and then you go down to yitziro and now it's like half and half coin flip then you go down to Asia and especially and that Sia has the spiritual uh uh domain and then the physical domain but then you get down to the physical domain of asea and at that point physical reality is indisputable at least from our subjective perspective and the notion of a Creator is something that has to be argued with philosophical proofs so to live there right right right so okay so if we want to give Hashem this unique gratification if you go up to him oh come on what's the point I have Angels who are who are here already it's to stay down here and to bring him into this world now obviously objectively speaking he's already in this world because he is everything but subjectively speaking he's not here until you let him in so where where if and that's what these two meditations or metaphors from yesterday are from last week are the to wrap our heads around the idea that even though we perceive this created this created plane with all these different beings and entities it's really all Oneness it's really all Hashem and when we perceive that not only do we feel good because we're allowing Hashem into our lives but we feel good that Hashem feels good that he has his Paradox that he's able to be present down here in this plane now I want to just read inside because he explains more what this Paradox is all right so that when we have this perception we subjugate the other side that means the non-holy stuff and we transform Darkness into light okay so through our perception through our mental exercise of recognizing the truth which would be true that's the nature of Truth is that the truth is true whether you acknowledge it or not so then what's to be gained by acknowledging it see that's what's cool about this this truth is true whether we acknowledge it or not but Hashem doesn't get gratification from it until we acknowledge it okay so that acknowledgment that Hashem is really here with us even in this Physical Realm is it subjugates the negativity it transforms Darkness to light what do you mean Darkness Hashem is hidden what is the light Hashem is reveal so we turn the concealment into the revelation foreign that the darkness is the darkness of clipper of this world this physical course world which obscure and cover hashem's light at Ace Kates until the capes The Capes means the end times Chicago of Kate's like it says he put an end to the dark okay that's a that's so those are words from the book of Eve from job but Kate means that there's a there's a and there's an end time where the the concealment is going to be over and hashem's going to reveal himself in this world right but he was saying it looks like this there will be a time when Hashem will reveal himself in the world and it'll be empirically obvious and we'll talk about that by the way in 35 36 37. but right now we're saying until such time that Hashem reveals himself in the world we have a special opportunity to reveal him in our consciousness in fact that's why it's so precious because the world hasn't yet become aligned with this truth so where does Hashem have to feel at home in this world only in our perception of it well I mean there are other kinds of relationships could be a long-distance relationship right but this is specifically fulfilling for our shadow and it brings about the joy which is our objective yeah Is this different than doing Mitzvahs yeah it is different it's not different like to the exclusion God forbid of doing Mitzvahs we're doing mitzvahs this is a perspective that will keep us motivated to do the Mitzvahs and to do them well this is a god-conscious perspective it is a god-conscious perspective yes but it's not just enough it's not enough just to have this perspective and then to say I did it no obviously not and that's not what Havoc meant either when he said um you know we can condense the whole title into the Mitzvah faith I think the Christians tried that they said oh you know your your your Deeds are always going to be imperfect anyway so you just just belief that's not that's not Jewish but obviously you have to do Mitzvahs but the point is that this attitude will remember I I asked you the very beginning of the class chapter 26 introduced the point of joy as what what's the purpose of joy what's the purpose of Joy starting from chapter 26. yeah well who cares about emotional well-being who cares to do Mitzvahs to do Mitzvahs to do Mitzvahs to do Mitzvahs to do Mitzvahs I said at the beginning of the class because it's the most important thing and in no I know you know why it's the most important thing because of the American mentality will will will forget it over and over again because we have an idol called emotional well-being why do I call an idol an idol is anything that we don't feel the need to justify why it's important we just say it's important because it's important well only Hashem is important because he's important because I said earlier only Hashem is ontologically absolute and independent foreign you can't just say you want to be happy because you want to be happy you have to ever you have to have a legitimate reason you can't say I want to be rich because I want to be rich you have to have a reason what are you going to do with your money okay what are you going to do with your happiness so I just want to make sure it's clear we set it all already but we need to say it again what are we going to do with this happiness mitzvahs and in fact I'll go further and say if we don't have this happiness it's going to be very difficult to do Mitzvahs or at least it can be difficult to do them well so again the point here is bottom line this has to translate into improved Mitzvah observance this is not just a meditation to make you feel good yeah we have nothing wrong there's nothing wrong with you feeling good but what are you going to do with it when you feel good this has to translate into Mitzvahs yeah I am feeling like this is what brings you to as opposed to just serving Hashem which was correct yeah so the whole theme since chapter 26 is you want to serve Hashem you're stating it very correctly that's not what Hashem wants in other words this is not about me it's about him the Simka thing isn't because it's more pleasant for me I mean it happens to be more pleasant for me when I'm happy but that's not the point the point is I'll serve Hashem better it's for him it's for him okay now specifically we're talking about the joy that I get when I think Hashem is here with me even in this physical world and then the double Joy I get that Hashem is enjoying being let in so now I'm happy because I feel he's with me but I'm happy for him that he feels he's getting his invitation to this exclusive club that he designed to be inhospitable to him okay so we said Kate Hashem said eventually the darkness will come to an end and the physical world will no longer hide Hashem and the whole world will see the Oneness of God on that day Hashem will be won his name will be won it will happen eventually very soon right but until that time where do we allow Hashem into this world in our perception of the world in our heads ETS no I'm sorry and what does it mean an end it means the end of days but Kato yam in the end of days Yamin is also Yamin the right the right side is hasid Revelation kindness what's going to happen at that time when Michelle comes and there's an end of the darkness he'll remove the spirit of impurity from the earth the glory of God will be revealed in the whole world and All Flesh All Flesh All Flesh will see that means it won't just be a mental exercise it will be empirically evident you'll observe it with your five senses but that's that's not yet that's going to happen soon especially in the diaspora outside of the Holy Land the the atmosphere of the world outside of erz Israel comparative to the the atmosphere inert Israel is impure so basically we're compounding it it's not enough that you live in the physical world the physic World itself is a is a place of it's a place where it's hard to find Hashem extra work to find Hashem God Consciousness is a rarity in the physical world but then on top of that you compound it outside of the land of Israel inside the land of Israel it's a little bit easier to find The Gem outside of the land of Israel even harder to find the show but a little bit harder to find Hashem is actually good it's actually good because remember Hashem is getting the thrill of the paradox so he's like not only did I get into this club where they have a sign on the front that says no God allowed there's a sign in front of this club says no God allowed and he got in and then not only he got in but you say you want to go to our special room that's for Members Only VIP even the guests guests are not allowed in this room this is only for members and he's like oh are you sure it's okay and you're like it's okay yeah yeah and you bring God into that room then it's like wow what a thrill so yeah you're down in the physical world and not only in the physical world but in hootslot it's outside of the land of Israel and then sitting in New York you think about the Oneness of God and allow Hashem into your world that's very very gratifying for him he really enjoys that okay the ain't simply is No Greater Joy for Hashem than the light and the joy that comes about as light from dark light from dark the transformation right so this is an expression from Schleich from from micheli from the Proverbs of King Solomon that there's a yes the simple reading of the verse is the advantage of light over dark mean can mean than but also can mean from so it's not just light is greater than dark yeah thanks a lot I don't need King Solomon to tell me that but there's a special value to light that comes from dark the light that comes from dark so you go down into a world that is created and designed by its creator to hide the Creator and down there you perceive the Creator that's a special thrill up okay yeah what is that the light in the dark we said no yes so what is the light that comes I don't know if everyone's catching all this you asked is Hashem the light I said no you said because he's also the dark that's right Hashem transcends light and dark and there's no place to void of him would be the the light that um revealing the concealment so it's Revelation and concealment light is our experience he is the Ultimate Reality light and dark and everything but we experience Revelation and concealment remember it's a one-way mirror we don't see him he sees us when he's blocked it means we have a hard time finding him it doesn't mean he has a hard time finding us so that the darkness is is subjective it's our experience yeah that there's Revelation in those moments that you you see his his right but that's what we're saying is the Revelation that comes from a place of darkness is the most valuable and precious transparency and amuna and Hashem despite the darkest despite Darkness yes that's right despite all of the darkness yeah and that's what makes it precious hat first of all how do we get there how do we get there we meditate on the metaphors from earlier in the chapter this could be compared about sugar it goes some somewhere to go through Darkness can you compare it to the children process where you you feel far from Hashem and then you come close to Hashem yeah I mean the embodiment process is really you don't have to send to the chova because just being embodied is enough of a an obstacle to overcome that you can do chuva from that you're going to say well I didn't do anything wrong it's not my fault no one's casting blame I'm just describing a situation you're far from Hashem doesn't say it's your fault that you're far from Hashem maybe it's his fault doesn't matter point is now what are you going to do about it okay let's continue here so if this is what it says it's actually Apostle can tell him rejoice Jews is a funny word but also we'll translate it as your maker or their maker Jews should rejoice in their maker but a couple things here is weird about this word first of all to call Hashem the ISA the maker you know we don't really call Hashem Isa that often we call them the Bara the Creator but I said the maker oh set that's that's a not the word that we normally use also grammatically really um we're gonna have to finish this because I don't want to say this and cause problems without resolving it oyesof means makers Lush and Rob and plural how many makers do you have one okay but it says weird maybe they're acknowledging your parents I don't know what happens okay let's find out next word means let's decode it what does that mean what is mean that every Jewish person should rejoice in hashem's joy you're happy for Hashem then Hashem is happy that he gets to have a place in the exclusive club that he designed to have a no God allowed sign on the front he created the club he put the nogato outside on it actually he created the club he created the obnoxious jerks who wrote the nogada loud sign on it he put you into the club with the risk of you becoming actually part of that club and actually buying into it yeah I also don't like I don't know I don't want God in this club and then what happens is you say you know what I'm gonna let God in I'm going to use my I'm going to use my foothold over here to get him in here okay so follow so Hashem is happy that he gets into that place that he created to be inhospitable to him the word for that plane of reality that's inhibitable to Hashem is called Asia Asia Asia is the lowest World Asia means making or doing think about it metaphorically I'm going to go quickly here but think about it metaphorically in terms of um when you do something your actions are the most external expression of yourself to the extent that your actions even have existence that goes on after you're finished with it you come into the room you spill the cup of water you leave the cup of water is still out spilled on the table so asea means that expression of Hashem which is most external to him and that's the name for the lowest plane of existence it's called asea okay so we explained why we refer to Hashem as ice of the one who creates this plane called Asia that's also why it's plural because in the physical plane there does appear to be uh multiplicity lots of different stuff which we call rishus means the public thoroughfare but also it means a place where there's a lot of stuff or there is a lot of there are multiple dominions means there's one Authority means there seems to be all these different forces that are in control is an Aramaic term from desire which means mountains of Separation each you have a plane it's all one plane like I'm from Illinois you just have one big plane as far as the eye can see it's like looking at the ocean just one plane but we don't even have Hills over there but um mountains you have Peaks peaks of Separation you have different Peaks jutting up so the physical world is called a world where there appears to be many different powers at work it's called it looks like there's different mountains poking up meaning every different person and organization and government and economy and they all look like they each have their own sort of power in this world and if you buy into it if you if you you know you watch the news and you actually like follow that narrative you start thinking there's all these different powers in the world but it's not true this one power there's one power so Hashem wants to be at home in the place where it seems like there are many makers that's why it's written in the plural because it's emphasizing that the subjective experience is that it's as if there were many makers but then you through your subjective Clarity you transform that Darkness to light you don't buy into the narrative that there really are different powers at work you turn the rush you turn the world that looks like it's full of many different powers into a world that only has one power and one Authority with your amona you see that the world is just um the domain of hashem's Oneness and Hashem is very happy with that and what's important here is that should make you very happy so in addition to the fact that when you think about how Hashem is really here in this world despite what the world may look like that makes you feel not alone so that itself is making you happy but then even more than that you realize aha that's precisely the greatest joy for Hashem that Paradox of being able to be brought into this world and and and now you're even happier because not only I'm happy for the original reason I was happy but I'm happy that Hashem is so happy