Text-Based Tanya Class—Week #10

all right so last week I thought that we finished chapter five and then uh I realized that we didn't die I'm in chapter four right I thought that we finished chapter four and that we were ready to start chapter five but excellent so we have a little bit of chapter four left which is actually perfect because this part of chapter four Segways straight into chapter five just to review what the rest of chapter four was speaking about very very briefly we were speaking about the lavushim remember that term the new term the garments of the Soul as opposed to the koi or the capacities that we learned about in chapter three and now we we learned about the outer expression of the Soul either through thought or through speech or through action okay now at the end of chapter four we started to get into this idea um that remember what we said towards the end of last week don't be mistaken and think that these garments are secondary to the soul just because they're called garments don't let the the metaphor of garment mislead you because normally if you if you think about a person and a person's clothing obviously the person is incomparably greater than the clothing right I mean that's that's a that's a no-brainer that a human being's worth is greater than even even the nicest outfit so don't be don't let that metaphor confuse you and and think that the voucher are on a lower level than the nephesh itself actually the opposite is true love is the garments of the Soul are even higher than the fish higher than the soul and therefore have the power to lift the salt very good and we said why they have this power because after all when we're talking about the Le voucher hanafesh of the nepheweled case we're talking about The Godly garments of The Godly Soul what are we talking about not just any old thought speech in action but Torah thought speech in action which are Mitzvahs and Hashem and his Torah are one so essentially what we're saying is that these lavushim are one with Hashem and lift us up to be one with Hashem that that's where we got up to so far so good sounds familiar those who are here at least it sounds familiar okay okay so here's where I believe we got up to and therefore they say who says they say no the sages our sages say s it is greater one moment of chova and good deeds in this world than all the life of the world to come what does that mean he explains what is the condition of the world to come and in this context the world to come means the spiritual realm of paradise of reward for the souls heaven what is what is the the what's going on in heaven it is a place where the souls are enjoying the radiance of The Godly presence Saga which is an intellectual Delight in other words the profound Delight of knowing of understanding of aha I get it yes that's what that thing is that's what it is Eureka so that aha that pleasure of understanding that is the condition of the soul in heaven now watch what he says here v-e absolutely a but really no created being not even lofty level spiritual created beings are really able to understand Hashem they can only get a glimmer a glimpse a ray so it's kind of paradoxical on one hand we're saying that the pleasure of the souls in garnaden is that they are able to understand godliness but at the very same time we're saying yeah but how much of that godliness do you think they're really understanding you're talking about Hashem who is infinite and uh created being which is finite even though we're talking about souls we're talking about disembodied Souls which are very very lofty and and nevertheless there's a capacity there is a cap and they're not able to understand everything well now to the degree that they do understand it causes them incredible pleasure but they're certainly not able to understand all of Hashem that would be impossible Hashem is infinite so it's kind of paradoxical on one hand we're saying that the souls in heaven are privy to this great Enlightenment at the same time we're saying yeah but that's a limitation because after all at the end of the day how much enlightenment can they really experience it's finite it's quantifiable compared to how much is there to be experienced it's unquantifiable that's why actually it's called the Ray of the srina you think about like a array of the sun you don't look at the sun you don't stare at the sun you're sitting in your room and you watch the stream of light coming in through the window that's about all you can take however Hashem in his Glory and his very own selfhood less visible no thought whatsoever can grasp him so the souls in heaven are getting a lot of pleasure from what they can understand but how much do they really understand what percentage of infinity are they grasping there's no number for it because even a fraction of infinity is no longer infinite so that's what's happening with the souls up in heaven they're appreciating understanding Hashem But ultimately no one can understand the ship no thought can grasp him whatsoever except what's the caveat asterisk here disclaimer accept what kashet fisa um when he allows himself to be grasped by being invested within Torah and the mitzvahs foreign then thought can grasp Hashem himself Hashem allows himself his very essence to be invested in Torah and Mitzvahs and then through the means of Taylor mitzvas we are able to grasp the ungraspable so if you want to go and understand Hashem there's always going to be infinitely more Beyond and that's what the souls are doing in heaven and it's very enjoyable but it has its limitations but if you encounter Hashem through Torah and mitzvahs then what you end up getting is Hashem himself like we say it doesn't say it here in Tanya but the idea of the first word of the aceres when Hashem gave the Torah and said I am we know from ice ages [Music] I wrote myself and gave myself through the means of Torah in other words Torah is not just a book authored by Hashem is Hashem in book form that he condensed himself the word we use is symptom he condensed himself within the form of the Torah and Taira is written in a finite form right you can't it's a finite form at least a finite form you can't add new letters to it and yet it is a finite container for Infinity yeah that'll it's kind of trippy you're saying even the Toyota itself even though even as finite as it is you can't grasp it right right Tanya itself is a case in point every every time you learn it it gets smarter oh I didn't say that before why didn't I see right oh they added new stuff to the Tanya no we didn't see it so that's a very valid point but what he's saying here is that to the degree that you are able to understand and obviously there are different degrees between different people and then even within one person the way you understood something this year is hopefully deeper than how you understood it last year and what he's saying though is that the way Hashem put his Essence in the Toyota it is in such a manner that whatever amount that you do get you're getting his essence and he describes it a little bit with a with a metaphor coming up let's let's actually do it inside okay uh what are we up to uh oh Dad is I mentioned that but let's say it inside the Hashem and the Toto or the Toyota and Hashem are entirely one again Toyota is not just a Godly book Toyota is to say something sounds radical but this these are the words of desires when you say it in English it sounds radical Toyota is God in book form foreign talks about or ostensibly deals with very low level issues when you're learning let's say okay a lot of Allah is talking about ritual law religious law but even that's physical stuff how much matzah to eat how big is a is a sucker you can do or you can't do on Shabbos these are physical things and then certainly things like mishpat where you're learning about damages it's talking about oxen and cows and pits so these are very very low level Concepts and you're going to tell me the essence of Hashem is in that discussion Rabbi Steins he said somebody who learns gamara and he thinks it's talking about an ox he is an ax because the ox is just it's it's just uh it's a placeholder it's a word that we're using to interface something infinitely deeper now it doesn't mean the ox isn't an ax on one level it is this shot this is but if you think that's all there is then you're the act so the villagon said that somebody who learns uh sod will understand shot and somebody or he said the one who learned sight will learn will also understand and one who does not learn side even even shot he will not understand so it's it's all concurrent it's all happening on all those different levels and then even Beyond side there's there's the infinite that's even Beyond but it's all there and we're getting access to all of it when we learn any level of it even the lowest level of it which is in response to your question and let's look what he says here with this incredible uh metaphor um yeah so this whole situation where Hashem is ostensibly talking about low level things physical things bodily things when you learn this it is like what he says it's like hugging the king metaphorically very gishmak here there's no difference in the level of closeness to the king Bane if the king is wearing one layer of garments or he's wearing many layers of garments because after all it's the king inside of the clothes so you wouldn't say oh I hugged the king's jacket and someone else says well I hugged the king's shirt because he didn't have a jacket he had the shirt you say I hugged the king I hugged the king so any level of it that you understand any level of it even the most pedestrian most most mundane accessible level it's Torah and it has the king inside of the clothes and you're hugging the king the king himself the essence of Hashem Israel now here's one thing did you hug the king to the king hug you yes yes before he said you're hugging the king but now let's flip it the king's also hugging you when you're hugging the king the king is hugging you like it says with his right hand he hugs me this is King Solomon in his wonderful poetry about the love the romance between Hashem and the Jewish people in a song of songs in he writes a romantic poem to describe the unique relationship between Hashem and the Jewish people so one of the things he says there is he hugs me with his right arm what does that mean when we say Hashem hugs me with his right arm what is this anthropomorphism anthropomorphism yeah anthropomorphism what is this anthropomorphism over here uh so he says this is the Torah which was given through hashem's right hand so to speak um why is it why is Toyota described as being given by hashem's right hand because Torah is kindness a Torah of kindness which could mean that Toyota is is is lenient and liberal and always seeking to improve people's situations and it's compassionate and it's not a harsh law it's a it's a compassionate law but also what it means Titus casted the fact that Hashem made himself available through through Toyota is itself a hasid and Cassidy says right here it's compared to mayimes compared to water and we said before remember we're talking about it that water the property of water is that it always goes downward you say there's gravity everything goes down yeah but you could stack it you know you could take bricks will fall if you hold them out a window but you can make a pile of bricks with water water always always just seeks the lowest level can't pile up water so oh yeah we spoke about this last week and this the Eskimo this who was the smart alec it was me I I preempted it I said you could freeze the ice and make an Eskimo uh Igloo yeah but don't be a smart alec okay that's it I I preempted it because I knew somebody would say that anyways um Toyota's compared to water because water is always flowing downward Toyota is Flowing downward it goes from the highest level which is hashem's Essence and it makes itself relatable To Us by investing itself in discussions which are relevant and uh and and understandable to to our regular human brains even though he hidden in that is all this Infinity all the spirituality and Beyond Beyond even the spiritual of it it's not just that there's spiritual meanings it's even Beyond spiritual it's infinite so all right so that's that that's chapter four now let's let's continue here chapter five takes one word or term or idea from chapter four and elaborates upon it I'm going to read to you from the beginning of chapter five let's explain better now this word fisa when Eli Yahoo when Elijah the prophet in zayar and the introduction to the in the famous which we have in our sitter on Friday afternoons before Shabbos when he says to Hashem less no thought can grasp you can grasp you at all let's talk more about this grasping what's up with this grasping a Cole Seiko Kisha masculine basically azamusco any mind any intelligence that thinks about an idea and by the way this doesn't have to be necessarily A Torah idea this is just the way that thinking works when the Mind thinks of something so the mind the circle the mind is grasping the idea and surrounding it and Converse the idea is being grasped and Surround and invested within within the within the mind or within the intellect that is understanding it so the whenever you're understanding something the intellect is grasping the idea and the idea is enveloping the intellect both of them at the same time like you might say like think of a number one to ten do you have it in your head right so we describe it as having it in your head but also we might describe it as oh I don't know I can't think right now I have my mind immersed in some very deep Concepts right now I'm my mind is all into Tanya chapter 5. so hold on is the idea in your head or is your head in the idea yes it's both it's both the the he says that the the muscul the idea is in the same hope the intelligence or the mind and and also the seikos in the Moscow your mind is enveloped in the idea Derek Marshall an analogy for this is we're going to give an example of understanding a Torah idea like I said it doesn't have to be a Torah idea but now let's give an example of understanding a Torah idea a person understands a law in the mishnah or in the gemata he understands it very clearly what law doesn't matter any any law any so his mind is grasping that idea that's represented in that law suit and also at that same moment his mind is being invested within that idea so he's grasping it and it's grasping him now I want to tell you something this is synonymous with the will and the wisdom of God like we were saying before that Hashem compressed his Essence into the total so now you're learning some halacha about uh could be anything could be how to observe a Mitzvah could be about the monetary claim and you're understanding how that works what's really happening well hashem's will and wisdom is compressed and present within that halacha so now when we say that you're grasping that Allah that idea and that idea is grasping you it means that you are grasping hashem's will and wisdom and hashem's will and wisdom are grasping you now before this one say I wanted to point out something he mentioned this in the previous chapter but I just want to bring it up again what we're describing here what we're describing here is something where he's saying that ultimately embodiment doesn't diminish this at all so you you think about spiritual experiences you think about how to connect or be one with Hashem and you know very often we think of some type of Escape some type of Otherworldly state and what we're talking about right now is something very very um normal it's very normal just a person understanding an idea with their human brain with their human brain not seeing visions of godliness or the ray of the Sheena up in heaven no just a person down here with a soul and a body using their human brain to understand the concept in Judaism what we're going to say because you said Hashem Grant hugs us with his right hand is there a way that you're so pumped that you become one okay did you read ahead I don't even have to you don't even have the book okay so you can't be accused of reading ahead so you're gonna find out you're about to find out okay so watch how he describes more this phenomenon so you know this this synonymous with the will and the wisdom of Hashem how do you say this is synonymous with the will and the wisdom of Hashem it arose in hashem's will he decided this is what I like why do you like that I don't know this is what I like Marshall let's say ruvane that Reuben and shiman are always fighting they're always in in any hypothetical case when you teach gamada it's always ruven and shiman those are the names we use and if there's a third guy it's leaving if you need a fourth guy it's Yehuda so Ruben and shiman are in a court case he claims he argues such and such and then shimane his uh his opponent his adversary gives a counter claim yeah and hashem's will is that the ruling should be such and such whatever it is I mean this is just a hypothetical example and a very vague one at that the point is let's say there's some type of litigation one guy says this another guy says that and Hashem has an opinion what the ruling should be that is hashem's will hashem's will is expressed in that halacha and here's something that every 12 year old asks but rabbi when is this ever going to happen and we say even if it would be that this particular hypothetical situation that we're studying in the gamada right now never happened and will never happened it'll never come to court with these particular arguments okay let's say that this never happened and it will never happen Makoma came nevertheless and it rose up to his will and wisdom she aimed that if it'll ever happen that this guy will claim this and this guy will counterclaim that the ruling should be such and such so once it's hashem's opinion don't worry about whether it happened or not the point is if it were to happen Hashem already has an opinion about it so therefore when a person understands how that Halal has articulated in the in in Jewish law or in the mishnah or in the gemara or the codifiers what's happening right then and there his mind is grasping hashems rotten and which ironically paradoxically no thought can grasp him or his will and wisdom directly might I add accept how bislav when they are invested meaning his rotten are invested as they are set forth before us so the ungraspable becomes graspable you want to go philosophize on the nature of God you'll never get there he's infinite but you want to go learn a halacha even a halach about a case that never happened and will never happen but just the fact that if it were to happen Hashem would have an opinion about it now when you're knowing hashem's opinion your mind your finite little mind is grasping the ungraspable it's pretty wild stuff the fact that we are able to see things from hashem's perspective that the infinite would look at a particular situation and say uh the musical goes on that side and that we could be in tune with that that's called our mind grasping hashem's will and wisdom now you couldn't get there by philosophizing and trying to understand the nature of hashem's Will and wisdom but when you learn a halacha which is the very expression of hashem's Will and wisdom then you are grasping ourselves well in wisdom so you're grasping it and furthermore the gum your mind is invested in them in the will and wisdom so it's working both ways and this when your mind is grasping the idea and the idea is grasping your mind what is this he says this is a wondrous Unity of which there is no similar unity and nothing even comparable to it in the physical world you cannot find anywhere a physical a proper physical metaphor for this Paradox where the unity is so thorough that the graspur and the grasped are indistinguishable our indistinguishably grasped and grasping at the same time yeah so then your action follows after this in accordance with this so you're asking about your the role of action so he talks about that a little bit in chapter 23 at length about the role what is the the what is the relationship that we have with Hashem when we are acting as he calls it as a chariot as a vehicle to God's will so yeah obviously if you understand it your action should follow but I'll tell you something interesting this relationship this this wondrous Unity that we have with Hashem through understanding Torah is actually greater than the closeness with Hashem that we have through doing mitzvahs obviously if you understand the Toyota you should do it don't be a hypocrite do it but if you just look at each one on their own which one affords a greater connection to Hashem so knowing Torah actually is considered Oneness with Hashem whereas doing his will meaning performing a Mitzvah is like being a vehicle to express Hashem [Music] well everything is relative so like later on in chapter like uh 37 I'll say the only way to bring mashiach was through physical action it depends what you're looking for you're looking for what has a more refining effect on the on the world physical action but you want to talk about what brings your soul into greater Unity with Hashem understanding Torah yeah what does it have to do with anything can still learn Torah and have that experience yeah it only it only compounds the tragedy of their not following through with it no that's not what the Johanna one the yvonim didn't want you should learn the Toyota and not carry it out they wanted that even when you're learning Torah you should not believe that it's a yeah you shouldn't believe that it's affording you any Oneness with God you should just say it's intellectually stimulating okay right the Ivana wanted that you should you should various it as an intellectual as intellectual intellectual stimulation you know what the spiritual experience is also neither here nor there because we're talking about something that's an objective truth so irregardless of your experience there is a yeah going on whether you agree with it or not which is pretty wild yeah my question Mike but no I'm just just in my own head but like I've always learned that they've been very enviously human beings because they can't perform the midst of physically yeah yeah that's true okay you're talking about how to compare my lock-in with with nashamas and yeah so what really distinguishes us from them is the ability to physically do them it's that's true that's true okay although might I it's a it's not a silly question it's a very very astute question okay but let me let me counter and say to you but if you're concerned with that that aspect of refining the physicality which the angels are not capable of doing well let me tell you something your physical brain your synapses that are now wired to understand the halacha is also even though it's not a physical action it's also a type of refinement of the physical okay in fact there's this whole there's also from the rabba about why avraham consulted with his friends his Canaanite friends on their Escala mamara so they're called Bali and Rashi says he consulted them about the British telling me abramovino who did the arcade without questioning it he was questioning whether he should get him for this he needed their permission so I'll tell you the the punch line I'll give away the punch line spoiler alert but basically of course avram was going to do the British what he wanted was that first on the national thermometer these these non-jews should agree with him so that it would have an even greater impact on the physical world Not only would he be signing the Covenant in his flesh but he would get human beings to see why it's a good concept you know last week I I was it was I was in seminary I teach in uh basifica seminary in Crown Heights a couple days a week so I was there on hey tables hey Tavis is the famous day of the favorable verdict uh regarding the the library and uh so it's a big yamtuff and I was explaining to the girls that the Rebus said that just like in in the story of Utah's Kiss Live the Redemption of the alterable one of the great things was that was able to convince his non-jewish captors and interrogators not only should they acquit him but they he sort of won them over that they understood that what he was teaching was good so that Emma mentioned at the end of the Shiva for the rabbitsen that the altarebus great great great great great great great granddaughter I don't know if I did the number of greats meaning that Abba's wife in our generation she was like she did what the altareba did in his generation which was she gave the deposition that convinced judge sifton to see this case in a unique way so and that there was a that that was a very important thing that not just there was a favorable outcome but that a non-jew who's not looking at this in the perspective of a nashama ananjo is looking at it from a human perspective would be able to be aligned with a truth according to Torah there's something very good about that happening in the world so to answer your question even the fact that a mortal brain how much more so when a non-jewish person understands a Torah concept um that and then this doesn't mean that just in case anyone's jumping to the next thing so let's go learn gemado with non-jews no that's not the point the point point is in this case where the altareb was in prison or like the the case of the the library being disputed so we were in a position where we were forced to explain a Torah concept to the world and the fact that the world meaning um the nations of the world grasped and appreciated that idea they didn't just say oh okay it's it's that's the Jewish law let's just do it that way no they actually understood it so that itself represents a certain refinement of the physical world so yes ideas or I shouldn't just I shouldn't say ideas like disembodied ideas abstract ideas but the pro the neurological processing of abstract ideas is itself a refinement of the physical world to answer your question okay let's let's continue here um so what happens there's a wondrous yeah we're in the middle of describing the yuhood where you become totally United from every corner and every side with Hashem this is this is the unique advantage of the Mitzvah of understanding Terror over all of the physical mitzvahs you do through speech in other words here we're talking about makashava about thought compared and has a certain superiority compared to mice compared to physical action what about Deborah so you say saying yes this is categorically Superior even to misters that you do with Debra which is loftier than than action but this is this is even greater than than speech as well the Fila Al Mitzvahs talmata Shiba de board in fact now he distinguishes between two Torah Mitzvahs two Mitzvahs of Torah there's the talmud title and there's yadiya satara of of studying Toyota which is Don I mean the Mitzvah is that you're saying the words obviously understanding them as well but you're saying you're saying the words then there's the Mitzvah of knowing Torah of yadias of having Torah knowledge so that has a special superior quality and he explains that when you do a Mitzvah that it's done through speech or through action Hashem is surrounding your soul and enveloping it with the light of God from your head to your toe in contrast the Mitzvah of knowing Hashem through Torah says in addition to the fact that your mind is invested in hashem's wisdom which is the same as any Mitzvah where you're being enveloped in The Godly light while you're doing the Mitzvah but in addition to that hashem's wisdom is in you so any Mitzvah gets the effect where you're being enveloped but the only way that you can envelop Hashem back is the king hugging you but to have him hug you and you hug him at the same time that's through yidia yeah yeah correct is which means that your understanding as much as you're capable of understanding and I'm going to emphasize as much as you're capable of understanding whatever you're able to understand it works each person according to their level of intellect and according to their level of understanding of the different levels of Torah interpretation since when you when when you're learning Torah and you know Toyota what's happening the Toyota is invested in your soul and your mind is surrounding that's why metaphorically it's called food it's called food it's called food why is it called food we know from the previous chapter from chapter four that Mitzvahs in general are called which means clothing now we're saying just like this clothing of the Soul there's food of the Soul what is the clothing of the soul the Mitzvahs what's the food of the Soul Torah knowledge why is it called why is Torah knowledge called food just like physical bread nourishes the body when it goes into it and that food gets metabolized and turns into more of your body you take the nutrients and you turn it into more of your own flesh and blood and then from that you live so too when you learn a piece of Toto well when you chew your food and absorb it and metabolize it is and you allow it to be grasped and you allow it to become one with you then nice and Muslim becomes sustenance it becomes food for the soul it's life within you mean from the life of all lives from Hashem the infinite Hashem the infinite after all is within his which is in turn in his uh Toyota which you are understanding and grasping to say that's what meant when he says he says to Hashem your Torah is in my stomach means my innards my tummy why did why did Governor say you're tired is in my tummy say it's in my brain because he was describing this quality that when you understand Torah it's like eating a piece of food and that and it becomes but the point it becomes you it becomes you so the idea is when you do something you've done it you've done it now you moved on when you know something you still know it and it's a part of you and it's it's a part of you wherever you go and even if tragically you you behave in opposition to what you know you cannot unknow what you know so Torah knowledge has that wondrous aspect of unity that the physical performance of Mitzvahs doesn't have I don't know should we try to finish it I mean it's not a it's not really a new idea can we can we take four minutes and just finish it off let's just finish it off okay okay so David Malik says it says when the souls go to heaven so their clothing are the Mitzvahs that they do that they did in this world when the souls go to heaven their food that they're eating up there is the Torah that they learned while they were down here and he he mentions also here a side point we said that they learned Taylor La Shema for its own sake what does villishma mean that's a whole long discussion what does it mean but he the outdated says learning means to learn it for the sake of uniting with Hashem himself foreign internal light because you internalize it another way of describing these clothing is they're called uh encompassing energy energy that surrounds you um that's why our sages say that learning Toyota is is equal to is tantamount to all the other myths is why LA fisha because all the other Mitzvahs are only clothing it's both it's food and clothing it's both it serves both functions that when you are learning the Torah thoughtfully so you are actually in taking something into you as opposed to a Mitzvah where it's encompassing you but you're not encompassing it because especially says when you orally articulate the title that you're learning then what happens explains that when you're learning Toyota and you're already articulating it the breath becomes a surrounding light for the for the Torah information that you're learning so that yeah so they get that's the surrounding but the knowledge of the Toyota that's where you are surrounding it and you have both going on uh which is unique which is absolutely unique so uh yeah yeah okay there's a lot more to be said about that but I won't uh I won't hold you okay all right