Tanya By Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz Chapter 24 - The source of transgressions is a "רוח שטות".

okay so welcome to tonight's Tanya class we are studying Tanya chapter 24 in the book of T so we have been discussing the last few weeks a cabalistic concept an important one and that is about hasem the Oneness of God um where ultimately what does the Oneness of God mean not that there's one and there's many and this is one of many or one special one the Oneness means the only true existence that exists in this world is God it means whatever you see in this world you see you hear you feel you smell it's all God guess what it keeps it simple you have to you have to remember a lot of things you just got to remember one thing right God so that must be a good thing but the point is when you're aware of that then you are living in a way of now we discussed last week was that the essence of all the positive Commandments is basically the idea of the Oneness of of God and by focusing on all by doing the positive Commandments you are uniting with the Oneness of God this week we're going to focus in on the second of the Ten Commandments which is the basis of all the negative Commandments notice we discussed last week was the positive which is 248 this week we're talking about all 365 negative Commandments there's 365 negative Commandments every one of the 365 negative Commandments go under the basket and the pool of what the second commandment do not have any Gods onto yourself which basically means practically that any time one transgresses any one of the 365 negative Commandments the common denominator the thread that goes through any transgression that you do or anyone does into the negative Commandments what you are at that point doing is you are disconnecting with the Oneness of God so the essence of transgression is disconnecting to the oness of God why is that in other words why why is it disconnecting to the Oneness of God because what is what is um the second commandment of the Ten Commandments in the in in the uh the Ten Commandments What are the second commandment um not to have any other gods which is basically idolatry now what is the essence of idolatry if you get down to the essence of it what is idolatry idolatry means that you're giving power and energy to something other than God it could be a piece of wood it could be a piece of metal it could be a car it could be money it could be anything anytime you give power to something you you're creating a false god because we know the only real power is what is God so if you create a power to anything other than the real power that is creating a false god yeah so that is idolatry now welcome perfect timing come have a seat or here either side uh so that is idolatry so the Alterra says that anytime you transgress any one of the 365 Commandments that you should not be transgressing at that moment you are in essence creating idolatry cuz you're not listening to God now that would be okay right not bad I mean you know it's still a terrible thing but the Altera goes on to say and this is very heavy that what happens is when a person transgresses know that we're talking about the transgressor the one that transgresses any one of the 365 uh negative Commandments in a certain way on a certain level you are worse it's worse than idolatry why is that and the author explains as follows and here you'll see the root of idolatry and the root which is a level higher in a negative way of a person trans transgressing any one in the Commandments and the explains like this when it comes to and now what isip that means God created in the world besides the fact that he created holy people and holy things he created something which is called C what is so we know it's called in there's another term in Hebrew called which means another God what does another God mean that means will never say there's no God why because they know you're not going to believe them so the way take charge of your life is very simple they tell you guess what for sure there's a God he created the world he created us but he created independent people too and we have our own spiritual physical identity so again do not say there's no God it's like for example they you know we say that if you want to say a lie so you have to have a little truth in it cuz a a lie that's 100% a lie no one's going to believe you but if you mix in a little truth that's when people get confused well that part was true so why isn't the other part true so a real lie if somebody says something which is partially true partially not true so tell you listen sure there's a God and he created the world but guess what he's sleeping right now and he gave us a little power that we can do our thing in other words what is what is ego saying ego saying yeah God gave me who I am but I'm also in person I'm also entitled to my opinion I'm also entitled to my thoughts and way of thinking but what is that anything we know that's not what God wants that's called Kip and so in kipa and in other gods we're saying is there's a God right we all agree there's a God but hey I'm entitled to my opinion I have a different way of doing things now God created within us the ability to have why so this way we can have freedom of choice now but what did the alter say when a person sins and a person disobeys God and and does one of the 365 negative Commandments you're worse than that why he says because when a person is arrogant and a person let's say deals with so what happens then you're agreeing as a god but you're saying fine I'm also entitled to my opinion here when you're transgressing one of the negative Commandments God said don't do that and you go and you do it so not only are you arrogant like the where to say listen I'm allowed to do what I want you're actually denying that God exists cuz otherwise you wouldn't do what you're doing if you believed that God created the world and God told you hey don't do this don't do that don't do the other thing you wouldn't transgress however when a person goes ahead and transgresses you're actually denying God's existence so the Ala says in order to really combat it the goal is not to give everyone bad news you want to know what the reason is that someone can actually be so disconnecting from God a like we said transgressing one of the 365 Commandments is like idolatry and he's saying it's even worse in a sense than C out and sit right and idolatry because you're actually denying God's existence so where do where does something like that come from now again the goal is to know where it comes from to know how to combat it the goal is not to know bad news how bad things work the goal is to know what our enemy is so the alter explains very simple I'll tell you the two words I'll translate but then we'll have to explain the two words and the alter says this is the root of any person that transgresses one of the 300 cuz we're focusing today on the negative Commandments that a person transgresses any one of the 365 Commandments is two words who can guess you mean in Hebrew yes that's wrong word that was yish the answer is you ready r r if you remember that and we're going to learn now what it is you will see that is the key why anybody would transgress any one of the 365 Commandments what is R so the a explains as follows I'll translate and I'll explain R means comes from word of spiritus could be translated as it's a translation it's not the definition means like silly but what does it mean so the AL explains like this ultimately each and every one of us us love God we all love God you take somebody push them to the wall do you love God yes sure I love God are you going to give up your Judaism no I'll kill you I don't care you can kill me I'm not giving my Judaism why I'm doing that because I have a I hate God no because obviously we all love God we all love God deep down in our God show we love God he created the world he created me he gives me everything I I need on everything I want God is a place where you can go to and you can pour your heart out and it won't God won't judge you God's a place too that you can go to for anything and everything God is always there for you and will always be be there for you through the good and through the bad God is always there for you and will never run away from you and will never abandon you God has never abandoned us sometimes he hides but he doesn't abandon us and and he hides because he wants us to look deeper not because he's trying to hurt us ultimately God loves us and not only is God love us we love God matter of fact in the zor you know what it says in the zor if we were able to see with our eyes the way God loves us we would run after God like the lion runs after its prey is anyone getting in a way no same thing also if we were able to see now unfortunately we can't see it because that's we're physical human beings and we have kot that's blinding us a little bit and we're materialistic people but we were able to see full vision the way God loves us we would be loving him now the reality is God loves us and guess what we love God too we love God too so if we love God how come we don't listen to God and the alter says one answer two words R what is r r is is very simple Spirit something no again here's the question if you God loves you and you love God so if you love God now we do not if you love God right so why are you transgressing God you love make it simple God loves you you love him and this God that loves you and you love him he says do me a favor because he says he begs by us please don't do these 365 things and we're focusing today on the the don'ts not in the do's right because we have the do's that was last week and we'll bring it put hopefully P pull it all together next week next chapter but in this chapter we're focusing on all the 300 65 God says don't do and God says don't do this don't do that right long three long list now if you love God why would you go ahead and and and do it the answer is you wouldn't but nevertheless we do so what's the answer either we don't love him which is not true we do love him so if we do love him how are we transgressing anyone have a good answer and the answer is what did we say before there you go you got a bingo transl good answer good answer so what does it mean what does it mean what does it mean what does it mean what does it mean so what it means is very simple you ready for the simple answer yes R just means that this love that we have this fiery love for God that will cause us not to God foress gets covered up gets covered up concealed um concealed too that's another term but that's fine it gets covered up gets covered up it gets concealed now what happens is or or it's hidden right three different terms all try saying the same thing whether it gets covered up or it's concealed or it's hidden that's different ways how it happens but the reality is that this love that we have for God got covered up or got concealed got hidden so now what happens now why am I sinning or anybody sinning very simple because this love that I have for God guess what got covered got concealed got hidden and now when the love is not there what happens you do things that on the list you shouldn't be doing cuz the love is not the love is not real it's like very simple let's say you're walking in a building at night and the lights are on do you trip on things no cuz the light's on you see where to go what all of a sudden there's a blackout and there's no windows there's no light in the building and you keep on walking what's going to Happ happen you're going to trip what are you all of a sudden like a guy you you lost your balance you're not responsible no it's dark but same thing also when the light goes off which light the light of the love that we have for God we start tripping we start tripping what happens once we start tripping then then we start falling and we start unfortunately transgressing um some of some of the 365 negative commandments so therefore what do you always want to make sure you want to make sure that the light is on which light the light of Love Now what's interesting is the Au explains that the light in one part of our body never goes off there even with the concealment it gets concealed it gets covered Etc there's one aspect of us that the light does not go off what is that that is called in Hebrew that is the first part of the SE Ro so for example in Bina you can have rationale reasons why you should listen you shouldn't listen emotions well this feels good to listen to God but this feels better to not to listen to God Etc there there's competition there when it comes to which is the light of wisdom over there there's only God's light that's lighting that's shining so therefore if you want to make sure that your love for God is always alive always make sure to connect to what that's why what's very very important is always to ask yourself what does God want me to do what you when you say what what you're really activating is not your emotions because if I want to activate emotions how do you feel about this oh I feel great sinning right that's not a good thing because you can say you feel good doing a you say feel good sinning in feelings there's two feelings there and what do you think makes sense well you can argue anything both ways that's what lawyers do all day right the argue this side they argue that side and that's the world of beina but in the world of there's one truth what do you think God would want you to do right now and that's how you feel what do you think and all of a sudden the light of goes on sure oh my gosh I would never transgress against God so as long as you can keep the light of on guess what doesn't kick in if what happens the light of goes out just covers up and then unfortunately you end up transgressing and sinning and that's not a good thing now so therefore what is is important to remember that if we can keep our love for God strong and we could so to speak not get the r on us and we can keep the r off of us we can always be doing the right things cuz think about it why would a person really transgress against God God's so good to us he gives us everything and the answer is there is no logical reason the only answer is oh my gosh the light is off now that's the no excuse but it's a reality sometimes to many people how does it get turned off how does how does the r kick in that's a that's a very good question and the answer is very simple um the rule it kicks in by not continually for example studying Torah and praying and doing mitv and so on and so forth so you can get into that thing or the r just has some kind of power somehow to you know to to to creep in you have to realize the kot and sit are working pretty strong out there so it can happen to the from the from the greatest to the people to the simplest of people that's why many people say listen you know I don't trust myself till I die because you never know when someone some con artist hey Howes how how does how does people get conned by con artists because con artists are con artist it's the same thing happens spiritually how do you get conned you get conned by either your animal soul I mean sure by your animal Soul your animal Soul that's his goal to somehow to try to get you one over but if you're able to remember the key thing that by doing this I'm disconnecting from a God will I do it no I'm not going to do do it so as long as you're able to remember and stay focused that by doing any one of the 365 command negative Commandments I am now disconnecting from God almost like worshiping idols and in a certain way I'm forgetting there's a God in this world guess what I'm not going to do that now yes the r just can come and cover me over and blind blind me but hopefully IA to grab onto the light of kma because we know the infinite power of God is in kma and I'm able to overcome what I need to overcome now so it's ala says what happens is to a person when a person does get covered over in a certain way the person the AL explains is worse than an impure animal why and he explains like this because basically what is if you give a look the the difference between kadus which we discussed many times but we're going to talk about it here it's it speaks about in this chapter the difference between kadus Holiness and kipa is as follows in other words kadus kadus which is holy which means it's connected to God kipa is obviously it's covered up but there's a major difference the way kadus operates and the way kipa operates and that is as follows Kad kadus is always out to do for others why is that because a holy person realizes God created The World God created me and you're humble before God and your only question is what can I do to make this world a better place so your your goal is what can I do to make the better place not because it's going to make me a better person just because I want to do goodness in the world I want to give and I want to do not only I want to give and I want to do I want to give and want it to anybody I don't judge who I'm giving to I'm not giving to versus kipa which is the opposite of kadus it's only thing it thinks about is what itself itself how is this going to advance my life how is this going to enhance my life and how am I going to become how am I going to become even a better person because of it so it's almost like literally an opposite Outlook of Life a holy person never thinks about themselves because theirselves are taken care of by God God has taken care of everything I need so a holy person says hey how can I help who anybody and I don't need any benefit from it I don't need anyone to tell me thank you I need anyone to recognize me I want to do I want to help that's part part part A and Part B I'm not looking for any return God takes care of me I get everything from God so since I get everything from God I don't need anything from anybody I'm here to serve and I don't need to thank you Kip on the other hand since it's all about me I'm not looking to give on the contr I want everything for me and B if I do give guess what there's going to be a big pay Payback thank you and a big recognition and what happens is if a person that's a place a CER and helps and does and doesn't get a thank you see how upset they get unfortunately they're coming from a place of kipa versus a person that just gives selflessly or unconditionally that is coming from a what a kadua place now um so therefore so therefore so since since kadus is about giving and not expecting anything in return that is what holy is so the AL says we give a look in the Torah when God created the animals so he created different animals in different days the last animal he created was called AOS AOS is a fly now what is a fly a fly if you give a look just takes just takes doesn't give anything back doesn't give anything back why because God created the world he created different animals that have obviously animals are animals they're not they're not human beings they don't have right they're animals ISC by by definition um so they are basically animals but and there's different levels to the know how has an animal become an animal meaning to say is that it only thinks about itself it's based on the concealment and revelation of God so in different animals there's you know uh there's less conceal more concealment and obviously less Revelation when it comes to the last animal which is a fly which the only thing it does it takes and doesn't give anything back that is the lowest level of Godly Revelation and obviously the greatest concealment what is the definition again of AOS is someone that just takes takes doesn't give strictly for itself so what do we say it says that if a person goes ahead and sins what does that mean you're sinning at this point so a you forgot about there's a God in the world an animal at the end of the day is even when it's being an animal it still listens to God in other words take a wild animal a wild animal a wild animal it's animal and it's wild and it's you know thinks about itself selfs survival but guess what who created the animal God God who created the animal with those instincts God so the animals following exactly the path that God set out for the animal even the fly that just takes and doesn't give is following the path that God set out for him matter of fact an animal will never you ready for this will never hurt a human being now you're going to say what do you mean this many stories where animals consume people bit people Etc so brought down in cabala it says very simple if the human being behaves like a human being no animal will touch that human being when the human being behaves like an animal threatens it no not only threatens it not only threatens it if and when a human being behaves like an animal mean say it doesn't listen to God and it's selfish so now you're on the same plane with an animal so one animal against the other animal lunch lunch dinner breakfast snack whatever you want to call it but as long as the the human being in in Hebrew terminology Adam right an Adam is there's a b is an Adam if the Adam behaves like an Adam guess what happens the animals won't touch you don't be afraid but if you sinned and you're not an Adam and you're an animal oh boy you better watch out don't go don't go don't go hanging out with those Lions right so keep acting like a human being and not an animal exactly which we know the famous story this is a biblical story you guys all know this daniil Daniel and the Lions then what when they threw him in the den nothing why cuz animals don't bother humans animals don't bother humans why because humans have a mission from God to do what they're supposed to but what happens when a human being doesn't follow God he's worse than an animal cuz an animal follows God does exactly his mission an animal does its Mission a human when you don't listen to God you're not doing your mission so in essence what happens you become worse than animal isn't that isn't that profound yes a good lesson to stay human being right okay so now the alter goes into to explore another very important concept that's as follows what happens when be said like this so what do we say that basically when a person transgresses you're disconnecting from God and it's almost like idolatry no it's like idolatry and actually you to say you're worse than and you're worse than even that animal because animals listen to God so the op says hold on but you might going to come along you know you're a smart person you studi the Torah and we know in the Torah the Jewish law is like this there's 248 positive Commandments 365 negative Commandments but and we supposed to follow all of them and as we learned how important it is but we know in the Torah it says like this what happens if your life is in danger in Hebrew it's called P your life's in danger and you can save yourself by doing what by transgressing one of the 365 Commandments should you transgress or not yes and the answer is yes and no well that was my second choice right yes or no so either one you get a 50% right what does that mean what does that mean very simple you should transgress except three which is forbidden relationships killing somebody and idolatry but leave those three Al aside for a minute anything other than those three transgress to save to save yourself to save yourself to save yourself okay exactly so the Au says hold on if you're saying that when it comes to idolatry someone says to you hey worship an idol I was going to kill you okay kill me I'm not worshiping Idols right we got that clear but what do we just say Al said that by you transgress anyone of the the 365 Commandments it's like a dollat Tre we know the Torah says it's not like a dollar Tre it's okay it's like there there's different levels in transgression so Al says alter explains and he says like this that is true that if someone if your life is in danger you could save yourself by transgressing you absolutely should besides those three we mentioned however that doesn't doesn't mean that there's a leniency and so to speak God is giving in allowing you to transgress absolutely not what that means is very very simple let's use an example let's say for example your life's in danger and you got to go to the hospital so you got to go to the hospital so you have to take a car and drive on Shabbat right so the Torah says yeah absolutely go for sure you should go why because God doesn't want you to die says God wants you to live so what does that mean so why is God letting you do that does that mean that when you're driving in the car you're you're worshiping Idols absolutely not why because God is saying is since that you're going to live another 120 years and every year you can you can observe let's say 54 Shabbat shabas let's say you're going to live whatever another 10 20 30 40 whatever 50 years that's the 54 times 10 20 30 50 how many years you're going to live so God says no I want you to desecrate this one Shabbat cuz guess what from this desecration I'm going to get 54 more per year for the many years you're going to live what does that mean so in that case God is saying absolutely transgress not because it's a leniency it's just because the net profit is much greater so so in other words when your person doesn't have the exemption because your life is on danger then you absolutely should not transgress and if you do it's like idolatry in that case God gives you so to speak a an exemption because of the many more Shabbat you're going to be able to observe and so on and so forth depending on what the Mitzvah we're talking about now so what happens when a person goes ahead and unfortunately does transgress on the 365 you shouldn't be doing so the AL we explore is very fascinating and he says like this we know that we each have a Godly Soul we have an animal Soul now there a Godly Soul it's part of God so does The Godly Soul ever sin no Godly soul never s never never since mean says in each of us very good in each of us we have a Godly Soul we have an animal Soul correct The Godly Soul knows one thing what does The Godly Soul know God God God and godl that's right so if if you only had a Godly Soul guess what you would be in order to your whole life you would just do Godly things You' pray you would study do mitv you'd be happy you would be peaceful you would have it would be amazing you you'd be AIC you'd be a sadic now if you only had an animal Soul guess what you would do animal things it could be selfish it could be hurtful it could be whatever be what anything that makes you feel good ego ego but God gave us both The Godly soul and the animal soul with one body now so if The Godly soul is in the drive re seat of the body then you're doing great things now if the animal souls in the driver's seat right you know what you're doing our life as we discussed the life of of the B is let's hope it's our life right is basically The Godly souls in the driver's seat and the animal soul is trying to take over right now and we discussed that length before we're not going to go back into now that in thought speech and action the animal soul never takes over it's just in the harassment of the intellect And the emotions where that's where that's where the war is um in the ban but let's get back here so what does the AL say when a person goes ahead and sins what happens spiritually to the person when the person SS so the AL is like this there's two types of sins that you can do that when you transgress one of the 365 negative Commandments the either could be uh and and and the the either could be where you're transgressing and there's room for chuva to repentance whether it's charity whether it's fasting whether it's an atonement whether it's a sacrifice different right that's one type but then unfortunately there are certain ones when you transgress them guess what death penalty whether it's death penalty you die at age 60 or or the regular death penalty it may be there's death penalty that's two types of transgressions now so if a person goes ahead and transgresses one of the negative precepts that's not the death penalty that means whatever the atonement is so do says this while you're sinning there's no question that The Godly Soul obviously didn't sin I mean it's obvious you know didn't didn't really you know sin it was Etc what sin the animal soul and the animal soul sleps in it brings in your body into the sin now what happened now if it's if it's the the the uh where you're going to need death penalty so there the animal Soul obviously sins with the body and also obviously The Godly Soul gets like a little like you know tainted a little bit because it experienced something like that and obviously it's very very painful think about it because if when you're sinning even though the Godly Soul really is not enjoying the sin has no interest in it but Bott line and experience like a like a horror thing and it's very very painful and it's traumatic and it has some kind of an effect obviously on on some level but what happens after the sin what if you repent oh very good what happens after you sin very good you repent so if it's a sin that you the death penalty is there guess what happens now done so the animal soul and the body obviously get dragged down and gets died and The Godly soul never really recovers because it obviously went down together with the animal soul but what I me in a case where it's not the death penalty you're still alive thank God so then The Godly soul and then the sin is over you did it already and now you trying to repent The Godly Soul has the power afterwards to slep out to pull out the the animal soul and the body obviously from this terrible place that it was in so as truva helps that after a person sin because of fact ISM we all make mistakes but fine we're sitting in a cool calm Collective place oh my gosh I did that I want to repent great The Godly soul is in a great place and The Godly Soul has the power to to pull out the animal soul and the body that it realizes guess what it doesn't want to be disconnected from God anymore and The Godly Soul inspires the animal soul to say look when we're connected to God not only I feel great but you also feel great the love is much greater when you connected to God and pulls the the body not to want want to participate in something like that anymore what happened why why we why obviously would we sin cuz we're not where are we it's like a whole package right the goly all the animals on the B why do we send very simple because the love for God got covered over and therefore we s but guess what was it really worth it no it wasn't worth it now that you're sitting afterwards in a in a calm place and talking about it so therefore let's realize and let's keep that awareness alive and real that anytime God forbid we disconnect from God and we do one of the 365 NE we shouldn't do we are getting disconnected from God the animal soul is being SLT down the body's being SLT down into a place of Disconnect The Godly Soul doesn't enjoy it versus if we connect to God and we don't transgress I'm happy you're happy we're all happy but we got to keep the light on to the fact that we love God and as long as we love God in a real way guess what who wants to be disconnected who wants to be part of idolatry who wants to be worse than idolatry who wants to think that they don't have God think about it how much more powerful how much more peaceful and how much more self-esteem you have knowing that God's with you and you have a God that created the world that you're partners with and that you're connected with it's much much much more powerful much greater so if we can remember constantly and consistently to stay connected to the love that we have for God it'll be very easy not to transgress think about it not one of the 365 Commandments we won't have any need to it because we'll be connected to God in the real way so this chapter of Tanya chapter 24 is really really helpful to keep a person and everyone of us uh anyone out there listening from not transgressing not even one of the 365 Commandments because you realize what happens when you do that you're basically disconnecting yourself from God it's it's like idolatry it's actually in a c sense it's worse than idolatry because you now you're totally disconnecting from the fact there's a God in the world you're bringing yourself down worse than an animal and now you're actually susceptible being attacked by an animal who wants to be attacked by animal nobody right and you can obviously get rid of the which is a source of everything knowing it by keeping your love for God clear and no obstructions and nothing to over to cover it and nothing to block it and the love is real and therefore we will never get go God forbid disconnected even for a moment