Tanya By Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz Chapter 27 - Real Happiness is being honest of who you are

okay welcome to tonight's T class we are studying tonight chapter 27 in Hebrew it's called perov Zan and we are continuing the theme from last week uh which the alter discussed the importance as a foundation before you start any praying and Torah study and doing mitzvot you got to be happy if you're happy now you're Off to the Races and you'll be successful God forbid if you're not um you can try to do all things it's not going to move it's like you know trying you have this nicest car right an expensive car and roll the bells and whistles and you don't put gas in the car where you going nowhere so you need gas um not that gas is more expensive than the car but without G gasoline the car is not going to move so the same thing also happiness is key happiness is key so today we're going to go into um some of the uh challenges that people have to keep the happiness alive so the alar Begins by saying what happens if a person's a little sad you're sad now so obviously if you're sad it's not a good thing why because you're supposed to be happy so the Altera says why are you sad why are you sad so he says very simple he's coming up with a real playing The Devil's Advocate a real uh scenario you have these uh negative thoughts inappropriate thoughts and obviously your mind's not clear so that's a a source for sadness now the reality is we all know we all have Minds right we know what a mind is and we know that the difference between the mind the the our thought speech and action is very simple act we can do or not do you can sit and do nothing and guess what you're not in trouble Sometimes the best thing is do nothing speak obviously our tongue can get us into trouble but you can also have the option not to talk and we also don't talk plenty of times and that's what guess what you don't say anything it keeps you out of trouble when it comes to thought you can't say guess I'm not going to be thinking now try that no you're going to think exactly what you said you're not thinking about so the problem is that our thought is constantly racing so you can't go into park or neutral the thoughts are moving are moving and some people quicker than others but the reality is it's moving by everybody so as you're thinking because you you're thinking about something all of a sudden you start thinking about negative things inappropriate things and guess what you start becoming sad about it some of these negative thoughts are not you know oh my gosh what so the say let me ask you a question when is this taking place like what time of the day is it when you're working is it when you're trying to take care of your family spend time with your spouse your kids or go out and do some errands whatever it may be you're out on a productive uh day and again it could be work it could be uh personal business pleasure whatever it may be and all sudden you have these negative thoughts see Al says guess what guess what you're in for luck you have an extra reason to be happy why because in shma in the shma which is the most powerful prayer we say every single day more than once twice a day at least and some people say three times four times Etc but the obligations say it in the morning for Shak in the evening service so when the sh says there God gives us we you know there's 248 positive Commandments 365 negative Commandments and what does it say in the you should not go astray after your heart and your eyes that you go astray from in other words what is this commandment telling us the AL quantifies the Commandment is is this commandment talking to sikim righteous people how can it be a righteous person doesn't have negative thoughts he knows a righteous person only thinks positive thoughts action speech for sure but even thoughts he he a righteous person has no negative thoughts so we're not talking about what who we we're not talking about aad who are we talking about we're talking about a b or a Rasha now a Rasha he gets the negative thoughts gets what he loves it this is what he does all day he thinks negative thoughts inappropriate thoughts so the righteous man never gets them the wicked man gets them and loves them so who is who is talking about so the alterus is very simple it's talking about the B it's talking about the intermediate guy that gets the thoughts but he has a choice what's his choice he can't doesn't have a choice not to get them because he gets them so he gets them so what's his choice transform that the choice is the choice is either he could delve into it and you know where that's going yeah Russia land Russia land right no pun intended or he can say no no no out I'm not I don't want I don't want you I'm not accepting it I saw it I thought about it for a second but out and as he saw it he felt it but the minute he sees it he Felts it well he has no control of that first look that first feeling out as soon as he's aware of it as soon as he feels it and is aware of it and sees it and Etc out so the Altera says when you do when you say out or you push delete however you want to uh graphically or mentally or emotionally tackle it whether it's out Delete or or you totally block it out you are at that moment guess what if you were in kindergarten they'd put a star on your forehead right or if you're an older guy they give you thumbs up you just now fulfilled a negative precept which is actually exclusively to you think about it this is an exclusive commandment to the BAM why again a sadic doesn't have this opportunity so he can never fulfill this one cuz minut he does he's no more a sadic so a sadic never can fill it a Russia has zero interest in fulfilling it's too hard too difficult I rather just embrace the thought and go with it until I destroy myself the B has the power and the choice at any time when that enters his mind what does he do I'm not going to focus in on it I'm not going to to engage in it I'm totally going to ignore it is it easy no it's not easy it's probably easier to be the Russia but we're not looking for an easier life looking for a more meaningful life and a more rewarding life but guess what the alter says there comes a prize with fulfilling this negative precept what's the prize you can be happy happy not only happy very happy why because you just now at this moment fulfill a negative per precept of so therefore guess what it's like winning the lottery the spiritual Lottery you just now were tested by the kipo the devil the the Satan whichever name you want to call it that was throwing you a curveball and hopefully he was hoping you would bite it or grab it and what would happen to you you'd be sad you would actually go astray and he would and he has you now but instead you were a big boy big girl an adult mature and you said I'm not accepting it you choose so therefore since the minute you didn't accept it what happens now you choose Jo you fulfilled a negative precept and you chose you chose joy and you can actually be very very very happy so the alter says good morning you're telling me that I have all these terrible thoughts guess what go you won the lottery cuz now you have a reason to be happy because if you didn't have these negative thoughts you'd be know nothing nothing how can you fulfill the Commandment so because you're being thrown these curve balls you have a reason to be happy they're after you after you not in a way where they're going to destroy you after you to give you an opportunity to be happy so therefore therefore a person should always be happy oh you have negative thoughts erroneous thoughts guess what remember says don't go astray do that and guess what you just scored a point and your spiritual bank account is getting bigger and bigger and that spiritual bank account guess what no one can take away from you not in this world and the world to come you can cash it in big time and those are the only points that work there you know the dollar bills don't work there you need to have these points l through from this world will help you in the world to come so the alter says great we got somewhere but a person says well you know I'm still say it why because why do I have to have these thoughts why do I have to have these thoughts why can't I just not have the thoughts I mean think about it it's a holy altruistic question why do I have to have these thoughts right you would think it's a sincere holy question so the Altera takes this attitude to task in a very strong way and he says as follows really what bothers you is you have these thoughts so the Altera says what's extremely important in life is to be honest who you are and what your life's Mission and purpose is the mere fact you can say that it bothers you that you have these thoughts guess what you're not being an honest man why because be an honest person are you a sadic no no you're not a sadic what's the proof you're not a sadic I have these thoughts because you have these thoughts so since you have the thoughts you're not a sadic are you a Russia right let's hope not correct so therefore you are a b so the mere fact that you can question why do I have these thoughts Russia has the thoughts of B has the thoughts but you're saying why do I have the thoughts to begin with you're saying hey why am I not a sadic you're not a sadic that's the way God created you so therefore the mere fact that you can come along and say say what why am I having these thoughts you're not being honest now that you're not being honest you're actually being arrogant you're trying to be be a sadic and that's who who you are you're not being honest and you're being arrogant so another words the AL says first of all be honest of who you are because once you'll be honest of who you are you know what's going to happen right now now you'll know what your aod is you'll know what your work in this world is why is that important so the alar explains explains as follows that God created two types of personalities in this world he created as the prophet job says sikim what's aad a righteous man what's a righteous man as we discussed in Tanya before all his actions are Godly and holy all his speech are Godly and holy and All His Thoughts that's a todic he doesn't have pop-ups in his head or in his computer they just don't come up he has the best filter system he doesn't see even if it came up he wouldn't see it that's a topic a Russia who God created means in the big scheme he has popups constantly coming up terrible thoughts negative thoughts hateful thoughts anger thought whatever all these terrible thoughts coming up the Russia chooses to do what to engage in it oh my gosh you this this you heard this person and gets into gossip and and all this terrible thought he engages it and he destroys his life so where does the ban F fall in so the ban in a certain levels like the Russia where he gets popups but the difference is the ban pushes him down and every time he pushes him down he is fulfilling the negative precept which you mentioned before and he's adding more s to his life and the AL says not only shouldn't you be arrogant you shouldn't be arrogant or dishonest you should be honest of who you are and realize this is why you were created once you know this is why you were created guess what life becomes easy in know words we know it says that um because this speaks Torah portion about aik M came and brought doubt into the Jewish people what is doubt doubt is the worst thing because when you know clearly this is right this is wrong life is simple when you have doubt that's confusion and We Know It says in the tal There's No Greater Joy than removing doubt there's no Greater Joy they removing doubt if you're able to remove any doubt wow you're going to really be happy so knowing who you are what your life's mission is now it's simple you know that you're not a sadic you know that you're like a rush in the sense that you have thoughts that will come up but you do know that you have the power and the ability to not engage ignore it and by doing that you're fulfilling your life's purpose and your life's Mission and creating real Joy because you have you have you have work to do in this world and the alterate goes into to explain here from a cabalistic perspective the different aod the different work that the sadic does in the world and the and the B does in the world the Russia doesn't really do any spiritual work what's his spiritual work he just engages in any negative thought any hateful conversation any animosity any criticism that's the Russia land so that's not spiritual work he basically just does by default whatever whatever is coming his way did so so but so what does that mean the B is the only one that has work no the sadic has his work which we're going to Define and the has his work which we're going to Define and the author explains what's the difference between the work of aad in this world and the work of abandon and the alter explains as follows and I'm going tell you the words in Hebrew and I'll translate thead aod which means spiritual work in this world is something which is called is is means full transformation the B aod this work is restraint two different levels of work what does that mean practically very simple the sadic what he does in this world is he transforms everything to a place where it's totally holy and totally Godly so there's no dealing with negativity and there's no dealing with struggle it's just bringing light into the world so the job of the sadic is to bring light light into the world he sees the light he brings the light and he inspires people to reach the light that's called the and if there's something negative that takes place it's a full transformation he only sees the positive in it the anything of negative doesn't go in his doesn't go in the radar now the ban on the other hand what's his aod in this work restraint restraint he'll never do a full transformation he'll never get rid of the the popups or the the uh crazy thoughts ideas are always going to be there but his power is it comes up pushes it down comes up ignores it and his whole life is doing what knocking things down not engaging see that sadic engages but because it's so he's such a high level he can engage and it doesn't affect him CU he doesn't really engage like the the like the ban does he does it from a from a high very high level the bany engages to the point of just restraint not elevation not transformation restraint so now what happens when the when the brainly uh pract what's so what happens in the painly practice restraint the AL explain something really really very very insightful that even though even though technically it might look like from a certain perspective the sad is a very high level why cuz what's a sadic doing in this world he's bringing a light to the world he's not dealing with anything negativity it's a higher level on a certain level but on the other hand the AL explains that the truth is the B draws down a greater light of God more powerful light of God than the sodic into this physical world why cuz he because he's he has the the struggle with erroneous thoughts inappropriate thoughts and he's able to say I'm not engaging that requires a lot of effort and energy and as he creates that restraint in this world I mean he doesn't allow the negativity to fester in this world what happens is on the spiritual level he doesn't allow it to Fester either so you know is it's like whatever you're doing in this world you have a the spiritual counterpart so as he practice restraints here it creates restraint on a much higher level and the AA says a fascinating idea and he says like this that um he gives an example he says very simple take for example you're eating something you're eating something so you can eat something which is sweet right sugar honey Etc so you eat it it's sweet correct so it's sweet it's very nice and sweet but but then you can take something which is not necessarily Sweet let's say bitter garlic an onion whatever it may be and you put in spices on it and guess what happens all of a sudden when you eat it it's not bitter that you can't eat it you can eat it and actually tastes very well and doctor says for an analy that's basically the two different types of service that thead does and the B does in this world thead is like what eating honey and sugar he's not doing anything it's sweet but there was no major transformation on the other hand the ban in is like someone taking something which is bitter spicing you know putting in the right spices making it really really good and he took something which wasn't necessarily so edible and now he transformed it into a beautiful dish in honor blessing Shabbat right made it palatable correct now so this not only works let's say in a negative situation but even for example let's say for example you get up in the morning right you get up in the morning and you have your routine you know you wash neasa the first thing in the morning you shower up you take a and then you you know do your prayers and let's say for example I don't know you eat breakfast every morning 9:00 correct now why do you eat breakfast because you need to have physical nourishment Now The Godly Soul does he really does The Godly Soul really care about the breakfast no he just knows if you don't eat eventually you're going to die so he wants you obviously to eat the animal Soul does he want that breakfast that's all he think oh yeah that's all he thinks about now as he wanted 9:00 already from 7:00 he's he's already thinking about when is breakfast going to be right and all the different tastes Etc so the Altera says what happens if you eat every sing Single Day consistently 9:00 for let's say from 9: to 9:30 and you say you know what I want to basically practice a little con uh restraint I want to work on the uh my NE Bahamas so what am I going to do instead of eating at 9:00 and I've been doing it for years I'm going to instead of 9:00 I'm going to eat I'm going to eat at 10:00 and from 9 to 10 I'm going to study [Music] Torah now are you starving the animal Soul no in one hour he's going to eat he's going to eat in one hour in that hour are you going out and just doing nothing gossiping no because then you wouldn't be defeating the purpose cuz you're feeding the animal Soul another way and know I guarantee if you instead of eating you had a good um hatred conversation about somebody the animal SS fine with that that's in his league so that you didn't accomplish mod believe me he wouldn't mind not eating right you ever right you ever involved like in a ter not God you know us but present comp exclusive you're ever involved like in a negative conversation about attacking somebody who eats right you forget about eating why because the animal Soul feels great he is getting his nourishment from from NE from negativity but I'm talking instead of talking God to the negative but instead you see you study Torah from 9 to 10 and you eat at 10:00 that what you're doing is actually you're practicing restraint you're restraining the animal soul and you're you're training him to to be a little more refined that's also called isaia not necessarily from sinning but from overly indulging and being too excited about the materialistic World in a physical way now so here what the auor is trying to teach us is something very very profound ultimately what do we want to be we want to be holy people I mean isn't that what we want to be want to be holy people yes want to be holy people so how do you become holy people so so far we learned two ways right one way is a negative thought comes up a bad thought comes up first push the lead don't engage don't think about it you know you're going to have negative thoughts come up you're going to have erroneous thoughts come up inappropriate thoughts come up that's a that's a get a given that's the N that's the nature of the way God created the Bon the power we have is not touching it not engaging it I'm and it's not easy cuz sometimes it's not only you some it's someone else hey you heard what happened and it's hard to say well you know i' love to talk to you let's talk about something else right because you don't want to be like the the you know the Oddball you don't want to be the nerd right so you engage but meanwhile actually who you engaging with the devil so that's one way you don't engage with that second way we learned is what anything materialistic that's really enjoyable don't I'm not saying don't do it cuz it's it's not you're not eating TR you're eating kosher food kosher breakfast we're saying instead of eating it now wait a half hour and this half hour study Torah I know I know a guy a person in his house let's say if you have lunch is call for 12:00 he said guess what we're going to have a she we're going to study from 12 to 12:30 123's lunch guess what that's a great thing why because you're basically telling the animal soul Who's in charge so that's in that area and you don't have to enjoy it that much correct here you're going to learn something very very powerful which literally make a major shift in everything that you do in other words like this what is the basic difference between the animal and The Godly soul and here you're going to see how you can literally have an automatic switch shift from the animal soul to The Godly Soul one you know the difference what's the difference between the animal soul and The Godly soul is by God and the what by God no everything's from God everything's from God God created the animal Soul what's in that in terms of their the uh how can you define The Godly soully animal Soul very simple Godly Soul practices restrain very good The Godly Soul practices restraint absolutely and the animal soul is is it's for survival instinctive oh instinctive that's good right the animal Soul wants it when now now hot right hot now that's what the animal Soul wants and The Godly Soul by definition restraint so let's say for example you have a thought we're not talking B bad obviously we spoke about the negative ones we're talking let's say you want to do something whatever it may be now here's the question is it coming from the god so the animal Soul here's the test if I tell you let's wait a little bit if you can wait then you know it's coming from The Godly place if you know I need to do it right now I can guarantee you it's not coming from The Godly place I'm not saying it's coming from a bad place but it's coming from the animal Soul so if you want to to check it out whether it's from the animal Soul The Godly Soul very simple test see if you can wait see if you can wait not only that but let's say you want to do something I say you know let's wait an hour I'm not saying we're not going to do it let's do it but let's do it in an hour and you actually wait out the hour guess what you just brought a Godly experience the whole to the whole experience you're doing the same thing we're doing the same exact thing but all I'm saying let's wait an hour let's wait one hour the waiting the hour accomplishes tremendous you took a animal instinctive desire which not doesn't necessarily mean it was bad and you transformed it into a Holy Experience by waiting there's something very powerful by switching from instinctive which is basically animal to basically a thought out process and allowing it to develop which becomes a Godly thing so in other words the minute someone tells you it's the last one you have to do it right now you know who's he talking to the the animal from his animal to your animal Soul the best thing you can say listen I need one hour guess what happens now now either it's going to be really animalistic and you're not going to do it or he's the other person's not going to want and it's done great wonderful you don't fall in or was something neutral that you actually transformed it's like it's like you it's like you add salt and pepper to a dish what does it do to it it spices it up a little so the waiting the waiting is like if it's appropriate will add some nice salt and pepper to something which will actually make it a nice and beautiful experience and that's why it's interesting is the Torah there's a commandment says as follows Torah says like this and you should be holy then you'll become holy so the question is hey are we holy or not holy and the answer is very very simple we are God created us with a Godly soul and animal Soul we're neutral human beings things if we practice if we practice being holy what does it mean you practice being holy and again what do we say What's between holy and non holy what does holy do practices restraint restraint exactly so the Commandment is be holy what does that mean what am I asking you just practice practice restraint as you practice restraint guess what it's not easy then God says then you will be holy why because I will come and I will help you stay holy and overcome all these sometimes these overpowering and these strong um inclinations that are evil or bad or destructive or nonproductive Etc but by practicing you will eventually become holy so other words you see from this chapter in Tanya chapter 27 which is a very very important chapter in Tanya the auor is defining that being happy is something you can always be happy and not only always be happy when life is great but even amidst the struggle and the challenge and that terrible thought the doctor says during that terrible thought put on the biggest smile why because right now you have the opportunity to push the delete button and you are fulfilling the Commandment of what don't go astray and to start thinking well heck am I even having these thoughts no that's wrong because that's your mission in this world this is your mission this is who you are and as you practice what your mission is you actually what the AL say you draw down a greater light than a s can bring down to this world through your aod of esaia which aafia is one of the is talked about for tremendous in cabala mysticism because that's really our day-to-day struggle our day-to-day struggle from the morning to the night throughout the week and throughout the month throughout the years is one one aod is SCF can I practice restraint and the more you learn how to practice restraint guess what happens the holder you become your life becomes full of meaning and purpose and more importantly what happens when you practice rest restraint who becomes the domineering force and the act of force and the default response in your life is your Godly Soul again it's not easy and it's an avod that's work that doesn't stop but once you at least have the the awareness that this is your service and you know what your um what your so to speak your to-do list for the day is and you know clearly what your job description is now you just got to follow it so really what the alter does in this chapter he he defines to you very clearly your job description now that you know your job description it takes away 80% of the struggle most of the times we don't even know what hit us we have these thoughts like where's it coming from no this is part of the plan God planned it but guess what now that you know your job description is very simple you know what happens when those things come put on big smile why because you're fulfilling now the Commandment of following and doing your job in this world and by doing your job you will become holy and when you do your part to become Holy by a simple method of practicing practicing what restraint restraint exactly God will help you and you'll be able to overcome other areas where there's stronger restraint that's necessary you might necessarily have the power God will give you the power to overcome restrained in areas where you don't necessarily have the power to do so