Text-Based Tanya Class—Week #21

Okay, if you remember last week we said 12 is a very pivotal chapter. Remember the first word of chapter 12? First word of chapter 12? Chapter 12. We're going to look it up in 1 minute. Beinoni, right? Cuz we were speaking about the levels of tzaddik and rasha. And then in distinction to tzaddik and rasha, chapter 12 says beinoni, and the beinoni is not a tzaddik, he's not a rasha. And we started to explain that. And if you remember last week, where did we leave off? We left off with the Alter Rebbe introducing the principle of hamayuch sh'al tal aleph, which is one of the main ideas in Tanya. And it's a complex idea, which we are going to explore further, and its meaning will be somewhat fluid. But at this point, at this point, what it means, what hamayuch sh'al tal aleph means is impulse control. Simple inhibition. You have an impulse, and you curb your impulse. So we explained that the beinoni has the temptations that a rasha has, but behaviorally, he's impeccable. He's perfectly in control. Okay? I think we left off That's where we ended off with. Right. We we said hamayuch sh'al tal aleph. We said that it's native, and it's innate, and inborn, and we went a few more lines, and I think we got to the place where we said he can avert his mind from the from the temptation, and not only to avert his mind from it, but then to fixate on the exact opposite. He can go think about something holy. And I think that's where we got up to to that word al hatsad hakadosha hakadosha or hakadosha. He can he can avert his mind to the holy side. Okay. And then I kind of stopped in an awkward spot because the next word is kideish seiv, which is the scriptural proof for the statement that we made at the end of last week. So, the scriptural proof for the statement we made that he is able the statement the assertion is that he is able to control himself. And the scriptural proof for that is Melech I saw, said King Solomon, that there's an advantage of wisdom over folly like the advantage of light over dark. As we used to say in the '80s, no duh. Why does this take the wisdom of King Solomon to tell us that wisdom is better than foolishness and that light is better than dark. Okay, because Solomon is saying something very precise here. He's not just saying, you know how light's better than dark? Oh, yeah, wisdom's better than foolishness. He's actually explaining the manner in which wisdom has superior superiority over foolishness, which is similar to the mechanics of how light asserts its dominance over darkness. When light has to push off or replace darkness it's not like you know, let's say you come into the to this room. This is the upstairs, right? This is the top floor of of of Chabad here in the Five Towns. So, in the in the summer it's hot up here cuz heat rises. And And it's no if the AC wasn't on, yeah, it's really hot in here and you turn on the AC and it's loud and by so you can't hear for the whole class and it's hot the whole class and at the end of the whole class, it's cool. And then you turn off the AC so the next person can come up here and choke on the heat, right? Okay. One second, we're still on 12. Yeah, we're still on 12. Yeah. So, my point is if the room is hot and you turn on the AC, it takes a while for it to You know, they told me the HVAC guys that when you're moving air around a house, it's like moving water. You got to imagine how how long would it take to fill a pool the size of this room to fill it up with water. Well, that's like filling up with air and then conversely, you know, uh how the air escapes and all that. Okay, anyways. We're going to have a HVAC workshop after the Tanya class. And anyway, the point is it takes a while, right? Takes a while? Okay. Let's say the room is full of darkness and I want to replace the darkness with light. How long is it going to take to get the room full of light? Immediately. Right? That's the nature of light. That's why we use light as a byword as a uh as a metaphor for spirituality and for hochma and clarity and holiness. One of the reasons that light is a go-to metaphor is because of this property of light that when light dispels darkness, it does it without any hisaskus. There's no engagement. Hisaskus means engagement. It doesn't have to grapple with the darkness. It just automatically replaces the darkness. So, watch what he says here. Perush, the explanation of what Melech was saying is "K'may shahar or yaish l'Yisrael shlita u'memshala al cheshech." Just like light has a certain superiority and dominance and uh power over dark. In what respect? Shima at the just a tiny bit of light, gash me physical light, we're speaking in the metaphor now. De harba min hashacha pushes off a lot of darkness she need to be men of my love or my love. That the darkness gets pushed off, he says, "My love or my love. My love or my love." Automatically and and and on its own. Again, there's no engagement required. It's just an automatic thing. Once the light is in the room, the darkness disappears. It's not like, "Oh, where are we going to put the dark? Oh, fold up the dark and put it away in the closet." Roll it up. I don't know. Put it in a pile in the corner. You don't have to do that. The dark like if you're trying to get rid of something and replace it with something else, where are you going to put that thing? How How are you going to push it away? You How quickly can you move it? Where are you going to How can Do you have to smoosh it up? Can Can you sweep it under the rug? With light and dark it doesn't work that way. You It's We take it for granted cuz we've done it thousands of times. We flipped the light switch thousands of times. But the second you turn on the light, the darkness disappears. You don't have to figure out, "Oh, how are we going to get rid of the dark? OH, NO. HOLD ON A SECOND. I GOT ALL THIS LIGHT HERE. DELIVERY at the door of light. Oh, hold on a second. We're not ready for the light cuz we've got to get rid of the dark. HOLD ON A SECOND. PUSH THE DARK out in the backyard. We'll bring in the light." Nobody has to do that. Nobody has to do Why? Because the very nature of the light is the second that the light hits, the darkness disappears. You taking it for granted. You're saying, "Well, What about power outages? Yeah, what about power outages? If there's no power, how is it What? Light a candle. Yeah. Flashlight. It's the concept. Big picture. The point is that when you have light you do not have to even think about what to do with the dark. I know that that's a painfully obvious statement that is so painfully obvious it may not even be possible for us to fathom its depth. It's so simple that it becomes complex, but think about it. I'm trying to belabor this point. When you have one thing that you want to get rid of and replace with another thing, usually you have to figure out what are you going to do with the old thing to make room for the new thing. And with light you don't have to do that. Does everyone follow this? So, why is this important? Because we're not talking about light. We're talking about wisdom and foolishness. And when you want to get rid of the foolishness and replace it with the wisdom, you don't have to figure out what to do with the foolishness. You just turn on the wisdom and the foolishness disappears. So, isn't it that the dark is a constant? And when you put light on it, it's it's overshadows the darkness and then when you take the light away, the dark will come back again. So, dark is a constant. You know it's It's an interesting uh question how to look at it. You look You're saying as a default. Right. Um you could view it that way. Yeah. With the lack of any If you If you If you're completely passive, then the default state will be darkness. Yeah, that's probably true. If you don't do anything, you're going to be foolish. Sounds so negative though. Like I rather Right. Right. Takes a little effort, but that's the whole point. It takes a little effort. Doesn't take a tremendous amount of effort to replace the foolishness with the wisdom. So, that's his point here is Maya Shalt Balay basically means you have foolishness, which is the temptations of the Nefesh Bahamis, and you want to override them with the clarity of the Nefesh Elokis, and you may think of it in terms of some prolonged procedure, and he's saying, "No, actually, it's instantaneous." Yeah. Let's continue here. So, too, here's the analog. Need and may sickness have a day. Shall I clip of a suit to a call a small league? Much foolishness is dispelled. Much foolishness from the clip in the suit to a call is dispelled from the left ventricle of the heart. And he says in parentheses, "Commandment is all Allah in can make this bear those who unless a spirit of foolishness has entered him." That is the saying of our sages. When a person doesn't evade it, it's called a Ruach Stoss, a spirit of foolishness. So, how do you get rid of the spirit of foolishness? Well, we said, you just turn on the light, and the light will automatically replace the dark in the air with the Nefesh Elokis in the air. Because the Chochma from the Nefesh Elokis that's in his brain. So, that's going to replace the foolishness of the animal soul, which is in the left ventricle of the heart. Now, he speaks a little bit more about the Chochma of the Nefesh Elokis, which is in the brain. And we know that that's where it is. Do we know that from chapter nine? I should have said it in chapter nine. of here. Sounds familiar from chapter nine. That the the godly soul wants to have exclusive dominion over the city, meaning you. And it wants to invest itself in the three garments. Remember, thought, speech, and action. It wants to invest itself in the entirety of the body, not just compartmentalized. Let's spell it out, which are namely the thought, speech, and action. Which kind shall we say like we said in chapter three or chapter four, I'm sorry. Like we said in chapter four, the thought, speech, and action of the godly soul are thought, speech, and action of Torah and mitzvahs. So, that's what the godly soul wants. It just wants that all of our limbs and all of our three garments should be exclusively dedicated to Torah and mitzvahs. And the way that that is achieved is as simple as flipping on a light switch. So, let me pause here and review what we've said so far because the next sentence is sort of a um another another thought. What we've said is chapter 10, we introduced somebody called a tzaddik who has no requirement for impulse control. Cuz he has no effectively, at least he has no uh In chapter 11, we introduced the rasha who has imperfect impulse control and has intermittent regret about his lack of impulse control. Chapter 12, we said there's somebody who has the need for impulse control cuz he ain't no tzaddik, but he has no regret like Od HaSha because he has perfect impulse control. And how does he manage this How does he manage to have perfect perfect impulse control? He makes use of this inborn trait called Mayoch Shalt Lev. And how does Mayoch Shalt Lev work? As automatically as light replaces darkness. Okay? So, that's what we said so far. Now, let's continue here. The Alter Rebbe came and nevertheless notwithstanding what we have just told you about the perfection of this Beinoni's behavior and we've what we're about to say we've we've said earlier. He's going to say it again. Notwithstanding the perfection of this Beinoni's behavior, nevertheless einai tzaddik klal. He is not called a tzaddik at all. Not at all. A little bit? No, not at all. How much of a tzaddik? Zero. Zero. He's not called a tzaddik at all. Why not? He's perfect. He's perfect. Why don't you call him a tzaddik? No. He does perfect. Not he is perfect. He does perfect. Do you know how much work it takes to be this beautiful? You think I roll out of bed in the morning looking like this? You know that's what the Beinoni would say. That's what the Beinoni would say. If you knew what went into this, you would understand I'm not a tzaddik. I'm a tzaddik. What's a tzaddik? You want to do a home test to see if you're a tzaddik? For 24 hours any impulse that arises to your mind any urge whatsoever, just immediately act on it without any judgment, without any filter. And if for 24 hours nothing comes out for mitzvahs, you're a tzaddik. Right, moving on. Okay, chain yourself to the radiator before you start that experiment. So, the Bain says, "Listen, yeah, my behavior's perfect, but you think that that's that that's not the result of an incredible amount of internal work? Of course, I have to work at this because I do have the temptations that the the the that are Russia has." Watch what he says here. "Nevertheless, this Bain cannot be called a tzaddik at all, at all, because this advantage or dominion that the light of the godly soul has over the darkness and foolishness of the of the klippah, which automatically gets displaced, as we said, that dominion ain't I element of it is called it's only on the level of garments. Yeah, on the soul garment, remember thought, speech, and action. On the level of the modes of expression, yeah, perfection. But go behind that. Look behind everything that goes into managing those perfect soul garments, and you're going to see a lot of imperfection. So, the outward expression is perfect, but everything that went into producing that end product is a lot of grappling with internal conflict. Yeah? So, he's only got dominion on the level of the three soul soul garments. The labor of the muscle I'm a horse with lots of muscle shell of klippah. The essence of the godly soul doesn't have control over the essence of the animal soul. By essence over here, what does he mean? Essence is a relative term. But here Machshavas Atzmuso here means we're translating it as as essence um relative to the garments. In other words, think about it like this. My garments, thought, speech, and action, which we learned about in chapter four, that's just what I do. That's what I project. That's what I put out there. And I can exert a fair amount of Well, he says here, not a fair amount, uh I can completely control that output, okay? But that's just what you end up seeing of me. That's not really what's That's not everything that's going on inside of me. What's going on inside of me, that's the seichel and the middos that we learned about in chapter three, right? That my perceptions and my emotional reactions. So, what he's saying is you have the the soul garments, which is the outer expression, and then you have what he's calling Machshavas Atzmuso, the essence of the soul, which is its inner workings, namely its seichel and middos, its perceptions and emotions. So, he's he's describing a person who on on the outer level, the superficial level, which means behaviors, he's maintaining perfection. But inwardly what he calls Machshavas Atzmuso, the essence of the souls, plural, are very much engaged in a conflict. Right, and there's no perfection at all. It's very imperfect and uh and fraught with with with with conflict and distraction and temptation and outwardly doesn't look like that. Why and that's why it's not a tzaddik and that's why it's not a tzaddik, yeah. Okay, it's an interesting question you're asking here but the levels nefesh, ruach, neshamah, yeah. Nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chaya, yechida. So, I'm going to answer the very good question. I'm going to answer on the most simple level, on most simple functional level, everything's Elokim, everything has a counterpart in order to give it adequate resistance for the purpose of free will. So, this is an oversimplified answer but on every level of the godly soul, there is some type of a counterbalance or counterpoint coming from the other side. It's a simplified answer. Okay, obviously and this is what you're alluding to, there are certain advantages that a godly soul has. It simply reaches higher than an animal soul can. The answer to both ways to ask the question is yes. But for practical purposes, there's there's a counterbalance on every level. And in fact, one of my favorite sichos from the Rebbe is about and this is a it's a Pesach sicha, the need for yetzias Mitzrayim, the need to have an exodus on every single level of the soul. That the nefesh can be in Mitzrayim and the ruach can be in Mitzrayim and the neshamah can be in Mitzrayim, the chaya can be in Mitzrayim and even and this is actually a machlokes between Rebbe Akiva and Rebbe Eliezer but R' Akiva says that even the Yechida can be in Mitzrayim and require a Yetzias Mitzrayim. And it was just one of my favorite sichos, maybe we'll learn it sometime. It's very cool. Yeah, maybe some other time. Yeah, we got to we'll start it. And maybe after 30 letters, yeah? 30 30 30 letters30days.com. Okay. Um Okay. So on the level of behavior, everything's perfect. Wow. Everything's perfect. But then you go deeper and you look on the level what he calls Atzmus and Mechusav, Mechusav and Atzmus, the essence of the soul, meaning it's inner workings, it's seichel and bittul, the intellect and the emotions. Uh over there you got two sets of intellect and emotions who are diametrically opposed and have totally different worldviews and there's a real clash. You'd never know it from the outside. You'd never know it. Watch him the guy. If you would watch him, what would you think he is? Tzaddik. Tzaddik, for sure. But if you'd have to spend one day in his head, one minute maybe, you'd say, "Whoa." This guy's got got conflict. Okay. Um Ki Mechusav Atzmuso shel Nefesh Habahamis she Machlif u'Machlis ES HA'SMOLI L'EI NISCHAFLIM im Kaymei b'Beinoni, because the essence of the animal soul in the left ventricle of the heart has not been displaced at all. I'm stressing that word at all. It has not been displaced at all. On a behavioral level, it's completely displaced, like the displacement of darkness before light, the moment you turn on the switch. But on the inner level, meaning on the level of intellect and emotion, when I say intellect and emotion over and over again, what do I mean? I mean I intellect means I have one way of looking at reality, and then I have another whole way of looking at reality, and they're competing for which one is the truth. And then, emotion means I have one way of feeling about things, meaning what am I attracted to, what do I desire, what do I value, what do I cherish. And then, boom, right there, inside one and the same person, a whole other set of of values and predilections and desires, and they're very much in conflict and in competition. So, that has not been displaced at all, not at all whatsoever, he says. Okay. Um yeah. Like cloud and came to me meaning after that feel. Oh. He adds two more words, after that feel. Remember we said before that the benny when he's davening, he has a little reprieve. Yes, that's when he becomes like a target. Yeah, yeah. So, he gets some relief from that inner conflict during the davening. So, what he he adds these two words, after that feel, cuz during davening, after that feel means after after prayer. Cuz during prayer, it does vanish as if it's not there, and he has a target like rest. But, after davening, boom, comes right back, comes right back. He loses He loses it, and he no longer has this glowing coal fire like love for Hashem in the right ventricle. Um key in, but rather what did you have? Toy rock to over miss you Titus. He just has the inner lining of the heart um coated with latent love. She over hot benefit kiss commission by the common like we'll explain later. There's an an uh he calls it over hot Titus. Over Titus means it's just natural. You know, like a bird knows how to fly south for the winter, and a beaver know how knows how to build a dam, and all that stuff. So, the official kiss knows how to love Hashem. It's not that he created it through meditation, but uh it's it's the love that the nefesh elokis naturally has for Hashem. So, that remains there, but it's kind of low-key and in the background, and uh it's not like glowing coal fires, which is the state that he's able to attain while he's davening. Okay. Um so, then in this post-davening state, where all he's left with is let's call it a remnant of love for Hashem. Doesn't He doesn't have it in in full blaze anymore after davening. So, then as I then after davening, yochal yeish sichlas achilo rabis gashmis v'chol smali. Yeah, then the foolishness of the fool, meaning the animal soul, can come back in his left ventricle and start jabbering away. Lisaviv ta'avah macholin gashmius ha'olam hazeh, and it's going to start making him feel lusts for material things of this world. Bein b'heter bein b'issur chashash shalom, whether of a permissible nature, or even God forbid of a forbidden nature. K'ilu lo al klal, as if he never davened. It's like, yeah, boom, like, yeah, yeah, like 5 minutes ago, I I I I thought that I would never desire seven-layer cake ever again. I felt like I was free forever. We use euphemisms over here. So, I thought I was free forever, and then uh I took off my tefillin, and I walked out into the street, and bam, just like I never davened. Yeah, okay, that's that's the condition of the benoni. Okay. All right. Now, he explains, however, I want you to understand that even after davening, when he's back in his conflicted state, and he's being beset by the temptations and the distractions again. I want you to understand though the limits of that because I don't want you to think that now um he's actually on the brink of sinning. We we we said to at the beginning of the chapter chapter 12 that a ben Adam is never going to sin. So I don't want you to get this this image even though he's conflicted, I don't want you to think he's on the brink of sinning. In other words, you have to you have to He's just conflicted. In other words, you know, on Yom Kippur you may feel hungry. Doesn't mean you're going to eat. You say, "Oh, darn, I wish I could eat." You're going to really eat because you wanted to You're not going to You're not going to really do it, but I I might feel it. I might notice it. I might even be upset about it. You're not supposed to. Obviously, you're supposed to be dominant on Yom Kippur and you're not even supposed to notice you're hungry, but it could happen. It could happen. You could be sitting there being like, "How long's this going to go on? I'm getting really bored. I'm getting really tired." Okay, ideally, no, you're not supposed to be inspired on Yom Kippur, but could it happen a person will sit there and be like, "Hey, I wish I could speed this thing up here already." Yeah, he could he could think that. That doesn't mean he's going to really go eat. No, it doesn't mean he's going to eat. It's not even not even a not even a a possibility that he's going to eat. So think about it like that. He says like this, "Al shibud dvar is there in a ayla b'day to la say say is a b'pel mamashas as well." If he does think about a prohibited thing, it doesn't come up in his mind like something he would actually do. It's not like he's actually entertaining it as a an actual option. It's just that he has feelings and those feelings will will pop up. Ela here hurray a vera a kosha ma vera. He could have what we call here hurray a vera. Call it fantasizing or the impulse for fantasizing. Uh ya halim le feel all this la me halim la val ba la me ta ta va vera It could up in his brain and distract him from Torah and and the way that meaning learning and diving. I should explain though cuz last week we made a whole long point about the difference between and momish. So when I say it pops up in his brain, I really mean it just pops up because if he then welcomes it in and says, "Oh, this is what we're fantasizing about right now? Not that I I would never I would never do it. I would never do it. I just want to imagine doing it." Then he's not a baal aveira. Cuz that that was willful. That was a behavior. Albeit a behavior that takes place within his own head, but that's a behavior. We're not talking about where he welcomes it and says, "Hey, I'm not really doing it. Why can't I just daydream about it?" No, we're not saying that. What we're saying is the impulse or the the urge to think about it will will arise. What I just want to finish off this one sentence. The commandment is our sages say there are three things a person is not saved from every day. One of them is aveira. The other one is tefillah. They both have to do with mind control. And it doesn't mean that again, it doesn't mean he's fantasizing or daydreaming about sins, God forbid, cuz then he wouldn't be a baal aveira cuz that's a willful behavior. But what it does mean is that the notion will occur to him and then he'll have to dismiss it. Yeah. Sorry, the first thing is the three things that we're not saved from are He just says the two of them. He just says two of the three. What are they? I think the third one's lashon hara. Who? What are the other two? I think the third one's lashon hara. What's the other two? Yeah. But he only mentions it's the two of them. Which are the two? What we just read. Here aveira and even tefillah. Both of sin and lack of concentration. That's what I thought. And then the other one is lashon hara. I have to go to the cinnamon layer cake so if if if if the guy, you know, if the guy thought about it and he just has a day dream and he sees the cake and he's like, "Oh my gosh, that's delicious. I wish I could have it." And he just dismisses it, he's a vainy. But if he says, "Oh, that cream would taste so good and my mother makes it like this and I would If he engages in the thought, that's a rusha, is that what you're saying?" Yeah. And and how does the vainy make that switch that he just dismisses it? I Right, that's what we were saying. My akshala to life. Just just by engaging in the power that the brain has to It's the innate power that the brain has. You just say, "No. No. I'm not going to do this. Not going to do this." Yeah. So, the thought is not a garment. The Okay, we spoke about this last week but it's worth repeating. Thought, real thought is most certainly a garment just as much as speech and action. But there's something that we sort of it sloppily uh mistakenly equate with thought and it's not thought, it's an impulse for thought. I think maybe it's helpful I think maybe it's helpful to think about it like this. Just like there's the impulse for an action and there's an action. You know, you're driving down the freeway and you think, "Oh, what would happen if I would veer into oncoming traffic?" And don't lie and say you never had intrusive thoughts, okay? Okay, we're all crazy and right? But that there's a difference between thinking what would happen if I would veer into oncoming traffic and actually doing it. There's a big difference. Okay. So, that's easy that's easy to understand that distinction. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Yeah, that's easy to understand that distinction. Okay. Now, let's go one hm? Because it can be easily dismissed. Because it's an impulse and all impulses can be easily dismissed because my akshala to life. Okay. Now, let's go one notch let's go one notch, let's one layer deeper. Let's say um you have an impulse to say something. You know? Well, actually this is, you know, like uh I don't know what I was thinking about a cruel cutting remark, but I don't even want to make the joke. No, no, no, no. You know, haven't seen you around lately. Well, actually there's darn good reason for that, right? Like and then you realize that like no, that's not nice. And then you're like you censor you censor that line, right? So you could understand there's an impulse for speech and then there's actually saying it, right? So that's that's an obvious distinction. Okay. Now just go one layer deeper. There's an impulse for thought, but it's not yet real thought. Meaning, "Hey, let me open up this internal browser tab about seven layer cake." And then you say, "No, no, hold on a second." You get a little red X, click it out. No, no, we're not. No, we're not. Okay, yeah. What's the source of that impulse thought? Where is that The im- the source of the impulse is the animal soul. The animal soul is generating these or making bids, let's call them. The animal soul is making bids. "Hey, could I use the three garments today? Maybe one of them for just a minute?" And our response continuously if if if we're obeying the is uh no, no, no, no, no. But the animal soul is going to keep making bids for the use of the garments. And those bids will manifest as impulses. The impulse Having the impulse does not make him a Russia. How he responds to the impulse consistently, that's what makes him a banani. Not easy to be a banani. Constantly battling. Yeah. But is that the is that the difference between the hot man and the dog? Like the impulse and the initial impulse. You're asking what if the focus thought is called das and the impulse for it is called hot man? Is that what you're saying? Right. Sort of? Um maybe. Maybe. That's I I'm not sure. Yeah. I'm having a um question or thought about the after I have to feel it. Mhm. So technically on Yom Kippur Yeah. if you're in shul all day Right. either and you're being sealed Right. you there is no such thing as a banani? Cuz you're during the davening, not a correct You're making the mistake that you're equating standing in shul with davening. No, you could be sitting You're equating being in shul with a sitter open in front of you to davening. Doesn't mean you're davening. No, let's say you are davening. Whatever you want You're equating reading the words from a Jewish prayer book with davening. That's not davening. Davening is it it it is an is an alternate state of consciousness. When we're saying the banani's davening, we don't mean he's got this magic Harry Potter spell book that he opens called the sitter and he says and then the yetzer hara goes away. How are they connecting? What we're talking about is real davening. When the banani is davening, he's in an alternate state of consciousness. So why can't that be on Yom Kippur? It can, why not? Okay, so you're saying that there's either a tzaddik or a rasha. If he's davening on Yom Kippur, which is a nice thing to do on Yom Kippur, then he surely will not feel hungry. Right. I'm just remarking that it's possible that a person But what about everything else? You mean other temptations? If he's davening, meaning not reading words from a Jewish prayer book, actually in that ultimate state of consciousness, then he will have no distractions whatsoever for anything that is not Torah mitzvahs during that time. Make sense? Mhm. Okay. Okay. What about sorry? Yeah. He's having an issue the conflict. Isn't that in all of us all the time? Well, in chapter 10 we learned that there are people who do not have that conflict. They're called tzaddikim. Also, I might remark that in chapter 11 we learned about the rasha, and if you're comfortable being a rasha, you also don't have a conflict. Just let yourself go to hell, you also don't have a conflict. Right. Right. The rasha v'ra alei has no conflict. Yeah, yeah. The rasha v'taivah, the regular rasha, yeah, it says he's full of regret. He's always remorseful. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he has the conflict and he feels bad about his mismanagement of it. I don't know. I Okay. So, let's continue here. I think we can probably finish chapter 12 today. That would be nice. All right. So, after davening, it is entirely likely that he will again be beset with all types of unwholesome urges. However, the leftover remnants from the davening remain in his brain, and the fear of Hashem and the love of Hashem that's hidden in the right ventricle of the heart, and that's going to help him God release all of that there. I'm a sad at the time of it. It's going to help him overcome this negativity that is lusting right now. And it's not going to allow the desire to come out as a an actual garment, as an actual behavior or mode of expression. It won't allow, meaning the the leftover remnants of love and awe of Hashem, will be strong enough they won't even let the urges to express themselves only in his mind. He will not allow himself to engage willfully in fantasizing about these these sins. She cover the routes and here he spells it out much more clearly what we're talking about yesterday, the difference between the impulse for thought and an actual full-fledged willful thought. Here he says, He will not willingly, God forbid, accept this evil thought which is spontaneously rising up to his brain from his heart as mentioned earlier. In other words, he makes a few points. This impulse is spontaneously rising up from his heart to his brain. He didn't summon it. It's not willful. Why did that happen? It's just it's it's a it's a it's burping. It's just a it's a burp, okay? And he will not willingly accept it. So, therefore, he's still a ba'al nefesh. Will he not have the burp or what we called last week in the Zev from Shitamur story, the knock at the door? Will he have no knock at the door? Sorry, he's not so lucky. He will have the knock at the door. He can't control the knock. The knock is the knock. Who do you open it for? That's where your free will begins. So, he will definitely have the pop-ups. He'll have those urges, but he will not allow them to express themselves. Yeah. But, he's always have the conflict, but he chooses the good side. Yes. So, what what is the knock of the impulse? What the thoughts always divorce in the same place? That's what you just asked. Where where are the negative urges arising from? What did we say? I don't know. From the animal soul. Does that make sense? It makes sense, but but then what what is that? Remember earlier we said that he has dominion on the level of soul garments, but not mahus atsmus. And I said, "What's mahus atsmus?" The inner workings of the soul. Meaning it's seichel and middos. It's it's intellect and its emotions. So, on the level of intellect and emotions, he's got two functioning sets, diametrically opposed, might I add, two functioning sets of perspectives and emotions, animal soul and godly soul. And there's the conflict. However, on the level of behavior, what we call soul garments, then there's there's perfection. Okay. Okay, so the the urges will most certainly arise to his mind. Al emes be'aliyas But immediately when it rises up, immediately when he feels himself have to burp, he pushes it with two hands and he averts his mind from it. Okay? So, don't burp in my face. Okay? You know that you're about to burp. Don't burp in my face. I'm sorry. You You do have impulse control. So, the same thing. Can you control the fact that the the animal soul says, "Hey, I got something we can think about." Hey, he's knocking at the door. No, you can't control that fact. But, did you have to open it? No, you didn't have to open the door. And you didn't have to tell the guy, "Oh, come on in. Talk to me about uh whatever it is you want to you sell me your encyclopedias or your religion or whatever." Like, "No, I'm not opening the door for you." Yeah. But, that's his condition. His condition is uh one of constant conflict. Unless he's in that real state of davening. I wish I wish that many people did. But, remember, what did what characterizes the baal nefesh is not the presence of the conflict, but his perfect management of it. So, we know that the brain rules over the heart. Yeah. Are there corresponding right and left ventricles for the brain? I know No, the brain is all brain. In the heart, you have right and left. And the right side is on the side with the brain. The brain is all brain. Brain The brain is good. The brain is clarity. There's nothing in the brain that could be problematic. No, well, unless you allow the left ventricle to hijack the brain and turn it into a machine for rationalizing the things that you already wanted to do. But, innately, no, the brain is is clarity. Yeah. Um is it is it known how the author came with the the things that left ventricle and right ventricle of the heart where where We we about that earlier. I'm not I don't I don't I don't like to get into this stuff because especially modern people go crazy about it. And I said it has to oxygenated oxygenated blood and not not I I don't I don't I don't care. Whatever, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about right and left. I want to Okay. Let's Guys, I have a very burning desire to finish this chapter. Yes. Okay? All right. Okay. Um Everyone gets the main idea here? Yes. Yes. Okay? Inward Yes. conflict. Outward Perfection. Perfection. Okay. So, you got that point. All right. All right. Um Yeah. And you Oh, oh, and and and you got the idea the distinction about the impulse for thought and actual thought. I know that's a tricky concept. Some sometimes people have to go through time and many times before they get that distinction because it's funny because a thought is abstract. It's not physical. It's not tangible. And the impulse for thought is also abstract. So, we lump them together as if they're one in the same. But I just want to make sure that this is a clear distinction. That the impulse to have a thought is not the same as actually entertaining that thought. Or like last week what I spoke about thinking about and thinking of. Thinking of is an impulse. Thinking about is an activity that you've chosen to to actively be involved in. Okay? Fine. Let's continue. Um So, he doesn't willingly accept it im- immediately when it arises to him. He might pushes it away with two hands. He averts his mind from it. Mi Yachinish K'shuhu K'hora. Immediately when he recognizes it recognizes it as being a negative thought. V'ein Mekabel B'ratzon. He will not willingly accept it. Which implies that sometimes unwillingly he's going to struggle and have to push because it's really knocking loud, but he won't willingly accept it. Afilu Lahararei B'ratzon. Not even to fantasize about it. Again, he says willingly, willingly. Sometimes I want to make it clear. I cuz I I don't want there to be any misunderstanding. It's obvious that the battle line with thought is murkier than the battle line with action. Because with action, it's very binary. Either you did it or you didn't. With thought, it's much harder to pin down whether I'm actively thinking or it's just trying to get me to think. All right? But everyone can be their own judge. And everyone can be honest in their own heart and know when this was something you were struggling against and when it's something you just gave in, you said, "Ah, what the heck? What does it hurt? It's just just fantasizing. I'm not really doing it." Okay. So, he will not accept it willingly. The kosher came to say that how much more so it would never it would never occur to him to actually do it. And he wouldn't say it if it's a type of thing that's prohibited speech. Because I'm sorry to tell you, if you willingly, and again, I'm stressing that word willingly, willingly fantasizing is a Russia? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But a benny ain't a Russia He's not a Russia for even one moment. All right. Now, we have just a few more lines. So far, we've been discussing the benny in terms that could be understood as being purely religious. But, the Alter Rebbe now makes clear the last few lines of Perek Yud Bet of chapter 12 that the Beinoni's impulse control his perfect impulse control is not only in the area of bein adam l'makom in duties between man and God, but also bein adam l'chaveiro in interpersonal relationships. Which may be even harder. That was my commentary, which may be even harder. Let's continue and finish chapter 12. Okay. V'chein b'dvarim shebein adam l'chaveiro So, too, everything we've been saying applies to matters between one person and another. Mi'yad immediately she'eilah l'moach l'moach is a kin'ah v'sin'ah v'shalom when it arises from his heart to his brain. Meaning, when the animal soul is making a bid and saying, "Hey, we hate this guy, remember?" Immediately when that emotion of of contentiousness arises to the brain and says, "Hey, let's either do or speak or think badly about this guy." Oy, eizeh kin'ah, eizeh ka'as, eizeh peidah l'daber. Or jealousy or anger or uh peidah, grudge. Yes, those impulses will come. He's not a tzaddik. A tzaddik wouldn't even have that impulse. A Beinoni will have an impulse. The Beinoni will see the guy and uh he'll think to himself, "Oh, I hate this guy. Yeah, I remember that." But then immediately when he registers, "Oh, that's a bid from the animal soul. No, we're not accepting that." And he rejects it. He will not at all accept them in his brain and in his will. Now, he may be I want to make it very clear. He may be constantly beset by these bids. The animal soul may constantly say, "No, we do hate him. Don't you remember we do hate him." And it doesn't shut up about it. So, I don't want you to think that all you have to do is ignore the knock once and it goes away forever. It may continue to come back and say, "No, no, but we hate him, but we hate him, but we hate him." And each time you say, "I'm sorry, that's not something that I'm entertaining on a willful level right now. I understand that on a on a subconscious level those feelings are there and they are what they are, but I'm not going to allow this to translate into my three soul garments, thought, speech, or action. And in fact, not only am I not accepting this impulse of anger or jealousy or grudge or any of this stuff, but to the contrary of it I got to have it to the contrary. The brain rules over the spirit in his heart to make him do the very opposite. Yes, I'm a human being, I'm not an animal. I'm not an animal. I can force myself not only to ignore or dismiss an impulse, I can actually override it to the extent where I can choose a behavior that is the very opposite from the impulse. You can treat this guy with kindness. The guy who your lizard brain told you to hate. Your prefrontal cortex tells you no, be nice. And I want to add by the way, I said this a couple weeks ago. People were asking cuz we were speaking with the Russian who people wanted to call the sociopath or something. And I said, "Just be safe." And I'm going to add this again. Even be safe. Even when you're applying these words of Tanya, please be safe. In other words, obviously, we don't want to have any ill will toward anyone. We wish everyone well, even the people who have done us harm. For sure, we don't need They say carrying a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other guy to drop dead. Okay, we don't we don't need this in our hearts. We don't need any ill will. So, that's for sure. But, I do want to mention to people, be safe because some people, while you're being kind to them, they'll stab you again. So, I'm just saying, "Please be safe." But, if it's safe, then 100% not only should you not get even with somebody who did you wrong, but you should be kind to them. If it's safe. Again, did I say if it's safe 10 times? Did I make it clear? So, nobody can come to me later unless they really enjoy that Some people enjoy misunderstanding things and then coming and then being heartbroken about it. Like it's easier to be mad at me for giving a class than it is to be mad at the person who actually ruined your life so that you can come to me later and say that I misrepresented an idea and told you to be re-victimized by an unsafe person. So, if you're into that, I'll play along with you after class. No problem. But, okay. For my part, I want to make it very clear. Do this when it's safe. Okay, fine. Thank you. All right. So, treat this bad guy with kindness. The Hebrew you said it's would ask like actually with excessive affection. Lease by the men who had to endure, to tolerate to an extreme amount all types of garbage. Put up with the garbage. Again, if it's safe. Okay? But, if it's if it is if it is safe and it's just a matter just a matter of it causing you uh annoyance, then now that says 100% put up with the garbage. Just absorb it. Just just eat it. It's fine. Don't get mad at him. Don't get even with him. Don't pay him back. You should pay those who are liable means they're indebted. They're obligated, meaning they're they did bad stuff. They have a comeuppance due to them. And instead, what should you do? You should treat reward them as if they did a mix with You should the guy who messed you over, treat him as if he was your best friend and just did you the the biggest favor in the world. Again, if it's safe. What? The if it's safe part? I'm adding the if it's safe so nobody will come I'll read it again inside. Don't get mad at him. Don't get Don't get back at him. To the contrary, do good to someone who's undeserving. Do good to someone who's undeserving. Where's this wording from? This is from the When when we survive a life-threatening situation, we make a Hashem is going to we say Hashem treats us. We don't deserve the kindness Hashem did for us. We God forbid we deserve punishment and he's giving us kindness. So we thank Hashem. Hashem, you're rewarding us as if we did something good when we actually did stuff You could be punishing us. If you want to go strict letter of the law, Hashem, you could be punishing us right now. Instead of punishing us, you're rewarding us. So we want to be the same as Hashem. And that even when there's a person who on paper, by all rights, they deserve a punishment and we want to say, "No, not only we don't want to punish them, we're going to reward them." What What does it hurt you? Doesn't hurt you. He says, "This is a biddiny." This is a spiritually healthy person is that you treat people who deserve punishment, you you give them a give them a piece of cake. Yeah? Isn't that really fake? It's not fake. I check her because Why is it checker? Because if I If If Yeah. Right. Really bad things like Yeah. Can we take like in a global way? Like we have a a leader who's absolutely off the Okay. So I'm going to treat him kindly. I'm going to say, "Yeah, let's I'll give you some more of the Yes. But he's elderly and never I I don't see that. You don't see that. Okay. First of all, I always love the questions where people are watch are clearly watching too much news and bringing it into time. Okay. Okay. So anyways, please Let's keep this person. All right. Somebody harms my child or harms me. Yeah. More even my child. Okay. That's the worst thing someone could do. Worst thing. Correct. Right. Well. Yeah. Now I'm going to treat him with kindness. I'm going to like Oh, you're such a good teacher. You're an amazing human being. I love you. You're just I would let me go and buy let me go and buy you a gift. You're so good. So again, I want to stress what I said, if it's safe. You know, But that's safe. sometimes there are dangerous people. See, it's funny, the alter ever doesn't get into this. I think maybe intuitively people understood this in the past. But I think in 2022 we don't know how to do both. Sometimes there are dangerous people who have to be stopped. And the only way to stop them is Distance yourself. More than distancing yourself. Is to take More than just cutting contact. Sometimes to take action. If somebody's hurting people, and the only way to take them down is to take them down, right? Down. That's but that's That's a totally different thing. It's a totally different thing. There are two different considerations. One is my personal reaction, my personal feeling. The alter ever is saying get over it. Have no hatred. And have love. And after I put you in prison, I'll visit you and bring you a cake. Okay? Okay? Then there's another thing which is practicality. You have someone who's a danger. So, either protect yourself, no contact, or if you have to take them out, take them down. That's a separate thing. I think it's funny that people in the modern world it's like we mushed these two together, and we're like, "Oh." So, and that's why I said 20 times, if it's safe, if it's if it's every cuz we we we conflate the two, and we think that being loving and kind and and and forgiving means that we're also being reckless and not dealing with danger the way we need to deal with it. That's what he's saying. You don't react. You You react You You think about things really carefully and when you do act, you do it in a Yeah, my external limb. That's what it My external limb isn't just to get yourself to keep Shabbos or put on tefillin or eat kosher. My external limb, here he's saying is when you have a visceral reaction to somebody. Yeah. Curb that reaction. Act like you're saying, not reactively but proactively. And again, I make the disclaimer 100 million times. You have to be safe and you have to keep other people safe. And but that's a totally separate thing. Okay, let's just finish off the last line here. So, he says to the contrary, be nice to someone who doesn't deserve it. K'me she kaso b'Yeshaya, like the holy Yeshaya says, "L'eil maid mi'Yesef im achav." Learn from Yesef's treatment to his brothers. He could have said to them, "I'm going to do to you now what you tried to do to me. I'm going to put you through the hell that you put me through." But instead, he said, "Hey guys, I'm going to set you up in a nice nice neighborhood in in Goshen and we're going to take care of you and I've got connections. I'm the viceroy and everything's going to be nice. Okay. Okay, end of chapter 12.