Tanya By Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz Chapter 26 - The Key to Joy & Happiness

okay welcome to tonight's Tanya class I got to tell you this is my favorite chapter in Tanya I mean they're all great but this is my favorite chapter and you'll I I think you'll see why um the reason why this is the F my favorite chapter in Tanya is because we're learning now chapter 26 in Hebrew it's called P till now we learned about great stuff you know The Godly Soul the animal Soul the intellect And the emotions and about the closeness of God and the Oneness of God and really it's all about it's all one right we spoke about all that great stuff here the auor comes today and says lays down a important cabalistic and mystical principle and Foundation of mysticism that in order to develop a real relationship with God a person has to be two things one he has to have he has to have joy and happiness and B you cannot have any any sadness or worries and the alter in this chapter is going to show you how you can live a life full of sim full of joy full of happiness with no trace of any worry or concern isn't that great and isn't that great to hopefully you walk away from tonight's class whoever's watching it on the internet to after you walk away from the class you rate you walk with a big smile and all the worries and all the concerns that you had about life gone I mean isn't that a great chapter ananya yes and peacefulness and peacefulness it brings everything peace okay so the alar establishes as a fact and as a rule cabalistic rule that if you want to serve God and we spoke about till about serving God if you want to serve God and you want to serve God fully you know from 1 to 10 10 plus you have to be happy so there's no way to having this relationship with God if you're not happy if you're not happy and you're sad and worried you might be functioning and you might be doing the mitzvot and doing the prayers and showing up and uh doing whatever you're supposed to and praying but guess what you will not have full access um and a full relationship with God without being happy why very simple because if you're happy your heart is opened and therefore if your heart's open you're connecting with God if God forbid you're sad and you're not happy your heart's closed so if you close how you going to you know in order to have a relationship let if you have you have for example a piece of equipment that needs electricity right and it's all set up or computer whatever it may be and you don't plug it in it has no battery not going to work why I spent this whatever ,000 $2,000 on a fancy computer don't plug it in no juice doesn't work same thing also with us if we're not Juiced up with joy and happy happiness I'm talking about real joy and happiness coming from a holy place and we're worried and sad we will not be have this beautiful connection with God matter of fact I'm just giving you an introduction we'll get into the meat of and bones of the chapter matter of fact according to cabala and mysticism even though Sim is not one of the Commandments in the Torah but according to kabala it is the most important positive Commandment that we should be careful with and again though it's not a literal commandment in other words but the question is if it's not a commandment like how you making a commandment the answer is very very simple Al very very simple because if a person's happy you'll be able to do all the Commandments 613 easily and happily if God forbid you're sad you're not even to do the first or second one why is that so the alterist starts off with a beautiful analogy and he says like this take two people Mr a Mr B Mrs a Mrs B two people and they're standing up to for a fight now we don't a fight but we're giving an analogy of a fight Mr or Mrs a is extremely strong scale 1 to 10 let's see 10 and Mr and Mrs B on the other side 1 to 10 let's give him a three so naturally who's going to win 10 against three 10 10 wins but the op says let me tell you something what happens if Mr a or Mrs Mrs a that's usually a 10 the strength is there but they're down and depressed who do you think's going to win person B exactly Mr Mrs B is going to win person B it's a good right is going to win why Mr a had the muscles right you measured them out from muscle he one to 10 he's a 10 and the answer is very simple because when person a is depressed the muscles don't work versus person B even if there are three guess what they're a real three because they're happy and that three is going to work as a real three and you're fighting three against zero technically even though it's a 10 but it's a reality it's a zero so in other words what's the analogy dror was saying is very simple we are at War every single day every single moment who's the war who who's fighting Who The Godly soul with the animal Soul happiness with the sad no no The Godly soul with the animal Soul now we all know who's stronger The Godly Soul the animal Soul Godly The Godly Soul stronger because first of all it's a part of God and B the animal Souls just here to test you God wouldn't make the animal Soul strong in The Godly Soul then what well how would be testing you he'd actually be defeating you so God wants you to work to be in a Godly space so he put in the animal soul to challenge you but ultimately who's more stronger anytime there's a real conflict between a Godly person wanting to do a Godly act or a person trying to do an animalistic act if you have two people ultimately when they get at It ultimately The Godly Soul win and the person that's been driven by his animal soul will um uh switch over to doing The Godly act that's the fact but the AL says correct as long as The Godly soul is happy and if the person's not happy you can have this great godly soul but guess what not going to work in other words the term the Alterra uses is and I'll say it in Hebrew and translate when a person is in a state of atus which means he's lazy or coved where he's sluggish you ever get into that sluggish mood or in that lazy mood so the op says guess what you're lazy and sluggish but what's the source why are you lazy and sluggish not because you're a lazy person you're a sluggish person cuz at times you're not he says the the root the source of that laziness and slug sluggishness is very simple you're not happy and you're sad on the contrary somebody that is does things does things right away does things efficiently does things quickly and is alert and has full El laity what's the source of that happiness so happiness and joy with zero wor or concern will get you what to be have full ality and to be to to to get up do what you have to and defeat the animal Soul if God forbid you're sad or you're worrying and you're not happy Godly souls are get defeated got a big problem so therefore therefore this is like black and white cardinal rule of mysticism a person has to always be happy b a person cannot be sad or have any worries now just to create a definition anyone know what the difference between sadness and worries are cuz you got to know what we about do it you mean no no what is sad what's the difference between sadness and worri there's two words one is sadness one is worries anyone difference $1,000 okay good joke but what's the difference past and the future very good which one is which um past is sadness and future is wor very good exactly sadness is a stuff of the past something happened and you look back and you think about it that's sadness worries oh my gosh what's going to be how am I going to do this how's it right so sadness or worries sadness of the past worries of the future so here the alter was saying you have to C have a clear back view mirror you look back there's no sadness and you look forward there's no worries and you're happy and joyful now comes the AL says hold on a second I'm making a statement that you got to be happy no sadness no worries so you always have you know the uh Devil's Advocate and says and he's preparing us for it what do you mean you can't be sad what do you mean you shouldn't be sad we know there's benefit from being sad and he quotes different verses where it says when there's sadness there's a prophet and so on and so know when there's sadness there's a prophet means if you're sad there's a prophet but sadness is not a good thing know a state of sadness is not a good thing matter of fact we know that it says in the Torah which we read a few weeks ago in Deuteronomy where it speaks about unfortunately all the terrible curses that happen to Jewish people not listening to God and terrible curses right so what does it say there you know why all these terrible things are happening to you all these all all these terrible things are happening to you for one reason was just sad um yes yes complaining and the language in is and I'll say it in Hebrew I'll translate because you did not serve God your God with joy good heart an open heart when you had everything so the simple meaning is what's the simple meaning very simple you know why all this happened to you because basically you had an opportunity um to to to serve God you didn't serve him God the way you're supposed to and therefore all these terrible things are happening to you the explains what what is what is what is the what is the verse saying that when you had um a uh when you basically were serving God right when you were serving God were you joyful when you were serving God no that's why all this is happening to you because you can be serving God you can be praying you can be studying doing all the mitv if you're not happy that you're doing it guess what you're not serving God you're not really serving God because think about it if you are serving God what you're praying or you're studying or doing a Mitzvah you should be thrilled why should you be thrilled cuz you're with God now you have a relationship with God you're listening to God's Commandments you're doing what God ask you to do oh my gosh that should make you ecstatic now if you're not ecstatic about a relationship with God guess what you're going to look for Joy elsewhere and that's where you're going to end up unfortunately sinning the point is when a person serves God prayer to to stting do mitv God wants you to be happy and this is the greatest happening that you can have a relationship with God so if you develop that joy for that relationship with God guess what happens guess what happens life's wonderful but if God for you doing it as a machine so you're really not really connecting with God and eventually that according to that res that's why all these terrible things happen to you so you see clearly from the Torah at least that sadness will bring you to all these terrible things versus if you're happy you'll have everything you'll have everything now so we have a clear definition and a clear picture from the alar which is very very clear and very strong you want to be successful in getting rid of your animal soul and all your uh desires and all your frustrations and all your issues very simple before you start you got to say to yourself I am happy I'm not worried about anything I'm not sad about anything in the past past is gone and I'm not worried about for the future now obviously if you can do that guess what you're happy and guess what you're going to win the animal soul if you don't do that you can have the greatest Godly Soul guess what The Godly soul is sleeping not going to work for you so that's key and crucial so the alterist says okay great I got it but what happens if somebody is sad about something in the past and is worried about the future and obviously if you're sad and you're worried could you be happy no cuz you're sad and worried it's holding you back it's it's not it's not allowing to to be happy so how does one deal with reality of being sad of things in the past some terrible things that happened in the past and obviously or worried about the future so the alter divides this into two areas in two in two areas two areas there's we know there's the materialistic world and we know there's the spiritual world now what does that mean there's sadness of materialism lack of materialism or loss of materialism or worries of future how you going to survive in the materialistic world then there's a second type of sadness let's say of a sin that you've done and woring could you remain connected to God so theist splits the two and says let's first deal one at a time let's deal with the materialistic world so he says let's look at the materialistic world that we're living in we're living in this materialistic world and you know what you're sad because you lost money or you not pay you don't have enough money to pay your bills or you have other Financial worries or other materialistic worries let's say health for your you know for your family anything materialism that that's not going well of the past and you're worried about going forward and that's real concerns everyone has real concerns every day it could be Financial it could be emotional it could be healthwise it could be whatever whatever your concern is there's real concerns out there so how do you deal with that because if I'm worried and if I'm concerned guess what not going to be happy now doctor would have said you have it's not negotiable your status quo has to be your status you know your status life is where am I right now happy and zero worries and concerns but people have real concerns real worries materialistically so the alter says that there's a famous piece of Talma that says like this the Talma ask a simple question what blessing should you make when something good happens and what blessing should you make when something bad happens right something good happens something bad happens so the K same blessing so what so mean the same blessing it says specifically that when good things happen we know you make a blessing what's the blessing which means it's good and God does good things so that's one blessing on the other hand when terrible things happen What blessing do we make at a funeral you make God as a true judge so it's two different blessings and the answer is no no no true you make every experience of life has a different blessing something good happens oh my gosh God this is great something bad happens we we don't understand why it happened so we trust God God God's a true judge so true it's a unique blessing but the tal is saying is by the same blessing means the the um the attitude when you make the blessing has to be the same that means we're not when we when God gives us great life oh God I love you and yes it's all good and when he gives a bad life God to hate you and it's all right and you're the true judge no no no the attitude is the same what's the attitude in both cases and the two words you have to accept it with joy that means something great happens oh my gosh it's amazing you make something terrible happens oh my gosh it's amazing right not easy to say but you say it hey it's a great and you make the blessing appropriate for that time so in other words the key thing is to um to to accept that everything that comes from God is good because we know that everything comes from God is good everything comes from God is good and if since everything come comes from God is good so we accept the good the bad the right and the left with joy and we make the appropriate blessing so you can ask the question come on I mean you're saying it's good and you're saying it's bad and we making different blessing and here he's saying the bad is also good how does it work out the bad is also good and we should and we should do it with joy so the auor explains and he says like this we know that everything we know comes from God now God's most powerful name we don't pronounce it is the yud with the he and the V and the hey right the the the the powerful name of God now if you give a look the way the the the the word is made up God's name there's a yud a teeny yud a he a v which is longer than a yud and another he so if you split the word in half they have a yud and a he and then you have a V and a he so they both have a he one has a yud one has a v what does that mean so we don't pronounce the name so what does that mean practically it means very simple everything comes from God the difference is the first half is a tiny yud what does that mean it's tiny second one is a v which is longer what does that mean everything comes from God the difference is one aspect of God is where it's tiny where what does that mean tiny it's hidden we don't really see God there and the second one the VB it's longer so you see God so we call it the hidden part of God and the revealed part of God so when we have revealed blessings when things the way we see it with our limited eyes oh my gosh it's amazing guess where that's coming from which part of God the yut or the V the V the V it's red long line we see it what happens when we're going through a challenge and we know everything comes from God everything comes from God who's the challenge coming from God which part of God first half or second half and the answer is the first half first part of God which is much more powerful and much more stronger and a matter of fact it says in in the that how fortunate is the person that who chasz him y that powerful part of God so in other words at the end of the day is is everything comes from God the good the way you perceive good and the bad the way we perceive bad but reality it's all good and matter the good that we're seeing is not such great good as the the challenges that we have in the challenges in the struggle there's always a greater gift so if let's see let's say you're affected with a with a struggle or a challenge you can oh my gosh it's terrible guess what all you did was closed your heart closed your eyes and you're not going to find the treasure first if you say and I know it's not easy say oh my gosh God this is amazing I know you have something beautiful waiting for me right and you keep your joy you will find the treasure you will find the treasure it's like um they say this doctor he wanted to test kids ability so what he would do is in his waiting room before they would come see him he had a special room that was closed and he had um a lot of manure in the middle of the room and they would bring the kids in to see how they dealt with you know uh with the smell and manure and it was strange they broughten a kid and he was like oh my gosh like digging into that manure like atrocious and the parents were getting nervous oh my gosh what's wrong with our child and the doctor calls out the child and says like whoa what were you looking for he says I know one thing if there's a manure there got to be a pony somewhere right so that's the that's the ultimate of an optimist he didn't look at it it's manure there he looked at know there's a pony somewhere where's that pony I want to find that pony it's the same thing also when when you're confronting whatever the translation of manure in that challenge is guess what there's a pony somewhere there's a prize there and if you look for the prize you'll find it now as a word of portion is this is only after something happened we don't pray God please send us some of that concealed good no no no God our prayers are always please send us what please send us the revealed good we only want the revealed good because that's what we can handle you don't ask you don't request a challenge that you can't handle because God will sometimes will send you if you do ask for the conceal good he might send you one that you totally can't handle way above even your paradigm shift so again a disclaimer When you pray we're praying for what revealed good we want only revealed good revealed good that we can handle and we want obviously the concealed good to be revealed also but we're talking about after it happened after after something challenging happened you got to say guess what this is coming from God and and God loves us not only that the alter says that what happens is when we go ahead and accept everything from God is good the Torah calls us a someone that loves God and someone that's a friend of God think about it if when God sends you something thing good you say God thank you so much right and he sends you a Str a challenge or a struggle you go oh oh that's terrible are you a friend of God no you're not a friend you're a conditional friend if he sends you something good thank you sends you a challenge you're ready to kill the gods no that's not a friend a real friend is he sent you something good wonderful send something bad okay yes that's what friends are for so the point is so the Bible calls calls us what an someone that loves God and it says not only not only are you a friend of God but because you're accepting whatever God sends you the revealed good the hidden good as the same thing with joy that the the reward is that you will eventually be able to uh enjoy the sun when it comes out of its Shield we know the Sun for example that we have today is in a shield because the sun was totally revealed guess what we' all burn up so God obviously conceals it for the future now if you want to eventually be able to to enjoy that powerful son guess what accept everything now hidden revealed good with joy with zero worry and concern and you love God for whatever he sends you your way um yeah yeah true true true yes okay um okay so so far we discussed the first half what's the first half someone has materialist the concerns now again that goes away why cuz nothing that comes from God is bad everything is good so we accept it all as good and this way if we once we accept this all is good there's only a reason to be happy is there a reason to be sad about something no CU it's all good is there reason to worry about anything in the future no because it's all going to be good and that's in the materialistic world how about in the spiritual world now what does that mean in the spiritual world we all want what a relationship with God we want a good Rel relationship with God how do we have a relationship by following the Torah you know doing the the Commandments the 245 248 POS Commandments um not transgressing the 369 netive Commandments praying Torah study and connecting with God now what happens if somebody really sinned that means he missed out in a bunch of Mitzvah that he could have done um he transgressed many negative Commandments he didn't study Torah constantly and got involved with you know uh other stuff and he did L har and gossip and slander and all that stuff so the person thinks to himself oh my gosh you know that there's a terrible thing I've been doing now so the alterist says hold on so you can tell me this person shouldn't be worried about his sin how's he how's he going to how's he going to transform himself how is he going to work out all those hist he has that he's really not behaving I mean shouldn't he deal with some of the sadness and and really be bitter over it so here the alab explains as follows he says like this what happens is and this is a this is a very very key crucial Point there's a major difference why a person's concerned about his sins it could be holy or it could be Unholy what's the difference between holy and Unholy very simple holy means this is the definition of a holy person concerned about his sins a holy person his goal and his motive of life and his vision is one Vision what's the vision I want to cleave to God I want to have a relationship with God God is infinite God is the only thing that exists in this world I want to be one with him how am I one with him I do all the mitzvot I don't transgress I study Torah I pray I'm that's my goal that's my vision in other words who is the subject matter God I would like to cleave to God and have a good relationship with God and obviously not sever the relationship that is a holy person's View now and therefore when let's say a holy person has you know uh not kept his part of the relationship like he's not done all the mits he could have done or maybe he's transgressing some of the negative ones or maybe he hasn't um prayed what he should Etc so a holy person what bothers him is what that the disconnect with the subject matter God is not as strong as it should be so what's bothering him is that he he wants a relationship with God and that relationship is what is not as strong as could be that's a holy person's Outlook and that's a healthy thing what what's what's the what's an Unholy Outlook who's the subject matter me I want to score points with God I want be on God's good side I'm willing to do all the all the Commandments because guess what I'll be in a good place with God I don't want to transgress because that will get me into trouble I want to study keeps me out of trouble and keeps me you know good with God I want to pray Etc but what happens is it all starts with me what happens now um now in reality he's still connecting to God but he's coming from an eagle place what happens now when he sins what's his what's his concern now himself he's back to the subject matter oh my gosh I did these things wrong hello are you not concerned about God it's all about me I didn't do these things oh I wish I would have done that you hear in the conversation it's all about me I missed this I want to do that and it's all about me me me me what's the problem there very simple it starts and ends with me here comes the major issue so you feel bad about things you've done wrong so the alter says like this two issues first question is when do you feel bad when do you feel bad you're feeling bad about you know things that you should have done or you didn't do Etc on a spiritual world so he says like this if right now let's say we're having a class right now we're studying Tanya or whatever we're studying uh in a different class or we're in a prayer service or you're busy doing a Mitzvah so right now let's say you let's take this class right now we're all sitting in studying Tanya the only thing you should be thinking about is what what we're studying about in this class what happens while you're sitting here all a you're thinking oh my gosh yesterday I did this terrible thing guess what wrong why are you thinking about yesterday right now inappropriate so guess what do you think that's coming from Holiness that thought no it's not it's coming from the evil Incarnation that wants to pull you out of this class or for example you're praying and as you're praying and we know it's hard to concentrate you start thinking about all these terrible things or you start worrying about the future the AL says guess what what should you be doing right now praying why you thinking about that not holy it's not coming from Hol even though it sounds like it's a holy thing because you're worried about this thing that you said or did guess what the eight the evil inclination is smart he's not going to come to you and tell you to sin he's going to come and distract you meanwhile what he's accomplishing is you're not studying right now and you're not praying right now so the AL says if the if you have any of these type of uh remorseful thoughts during Torah study during prayer during doing a Mitzvah guess what not the time now you got to say bye-bye wrong guy wrong time and this way guess what you stay happy and no worries and no sadness so in other words very very clear rules if you're studying you're praying you're doing mitv now is not the time if it comes now guess what it's not holy and you know it's a red flag out no negotiation when we're talking about we're not talking about it period end story let's get back to our class hey welcome to Tanya right T we're studying chapter 26 right okay um if you are basically during a prayer service same thing now what happens if you're a businessman and you're working irrelevant whether you're running a company or you're working uh behind a desk whatever you're driving a bus whatever you're doing you're you're a businessman or you're a worker and as you're working you start thinking oh my gosh oh my God yesterday I did that oh my gosh what's going to be tomorrow the AL says hold on a second are you working someone's paying you for the hour right now or your own business you have responsibility to keep a business flowing why you thinking about other things wrong the answer is that's the devil coming to distract you from doing what you're supposed to be doing now is not the time for this so the point is irrelevant if it's Torah prayer or mitv if it's business and you have you have a job you're being paid or you have a responsibility to your company to do an honest job guess what now is not the time to be remorseful of something in the past or to beware of something in the future that's it's not the time now the answer is by you must be a Some Devil that's trying to get me distracted I'm not getting distracted back to work see you later or actually hopefully never to see you again right all right done so very clearly says if it comes at proactive times produ doesn't work doesn't work so how do you deal with this but you do have sins that you've done and you are worried how your spiritual future is Dr says very nice agreed there is a protocol for that there's a protocol for that just like for example anything in life that you do you have a set time you have a set time to eat breakfast lunch and dinner right you have a set time that you pray and you study you have set time that you work or you go to school right and everyone you have appointments in your calendar guess what you make an appointment to deal with these issues that are bothering you spiritually and you set a time for that there are certain people that do it at midnight called The Prayer some people do it other times but the point is the key point is there's a set time for that there's a start and end time we're going to meet tonight 10: to 10:30 right the kids are sleeping everyone's quiet whatever it may be days the days work is done we're going to have a meeting tonight at 10:00 now what happens in that meeting is it's a very Focus meeting because what's really what you want at this meeting is you want to make sure you have something which is called yesu you know what Yash means Yash means that you relaxed not only relax physically but you relax spiritually and you're totally dealing with um this issue in a objective SL SL subjective matter obviously you're dealing with an important issue you sinned or you have worries about the future how you going to you know deal with certain struggles that you have but you have to do it in a way is that it's not going to pull you down and you're going to become depressed because that's one of the tricks of the evil inclination too remember the evil inclination goal in life is one thing for you not to be happy for you to worry and have concerns and uh therefore so when this time in a certain way you're allowing him into your life a little bit so you have to create very very strict rules okay we're meeting tonight from 10 to 10:30 10:30 this meeting is over we're not going to 10:35 and 11 before you know it you up till 2 o'clock in the morning driving yourself crazy no no there's a set time for this meeting point number one point number two is we're dealing with it in a objective manner meaning to say is my concern is not that I'm a loser and I'm a terrible person or I'm doing something which is inappropriate my concern is one concern very simple you know what my concern is my closeness to God the subject has to be God not me because if it's about me and being depressed no no no going the wrong way going the not that you're not taking responsibility sure you're taking responsibility but what are you taking responsibility for for that I'm a loser no you're not a loser you're a great guy God created you have a Godly soul and we're human we make mistakes but what's bothering me is what needs to bother me is not that I botched up the the I capital I right the eagle botched up even though technically you did but what's bothering me really is I'm not connected to God and as long as the focus is the fact that I am connected or not connected you're going to walk out of that meeting productive what's the what's the end result guess what I wasn't connected I don't want to reconnect and stay connected versus if it's about me what do you walk out of the meeting I'm terrible what happens to sadness and worry actually picks up what happens to Joy down the hill versus if it's about connection with God and disconnection from God it's empowering you know what I was honest oh my gosh the certain times I was not connected and guess what I always want to be connected it's day and night if it's focusing on me how I botched up or I I'm worried about something I'm going to walk out beaten up and guess what happens to the Joy not good what happens to the to the sadness and worry goes up not good either but if the focus is yes I wasn't connected and I really want to be connected that's a positive empowering message even though you're dealing with something negative and something which is inappropriate and a real concern once you're done with that process the close is extremely important when you finish that meeting 10:30 whatever time you pick you have to say to yourself very simple and I know that God forgave and forgives me God for again remember forgave and forgives me forgave and forgives you yes because as we I think we spoke it last week as well in Theon we say what God forgive us and we make a blessing bless you God who forgives so in other words once we're done with the meeting we address the issue we weren't close we're committed to getting closer and guess what God forgave and forgives me once you're done then you will have a greater joy as the auor mentioned before in the beginning of T everyone says well you when you're sad there's a Greater Joy the this is the Greater Joy in this specific time that you set aide time with yesu at a set time and only at the set time you talk about not materialistic problems because we have no materialistic problems everything com good but we're talking about spiritual issues and you focus more in fact that you want to be connected versus you're not happy with disconnect and then you finish off God forgave and God forgives us so in other words you see clearly just to wrap it up this chapter that it's so important if you want to have a great life and a good life and even a better life and you want to have a relationship with God and you want your Godly soul to be victorious always you have to know it's non-negotiable two things one is you're always going to be happy and B zero trace of any worry or sadness then you will have true success of your Godly Soul over your animal soul and you'll live a beautiful life a life of happiness with no worry or any sadness