Text-Based Tanya—Week #63

this is text-based Tanya we're in the middle of chapter 37 very good today's sheer is in honor of in memory of the father of one of our regulars one of the pillars of our class uh his yard site is dalid Nissan coming up right so Levi Ben Yeshua Mendel just second or third which how many yard sites is third third York side coming up and uh Tanya is a good boost for any nashama but especially uh that loved Tanya and said this and everything that it's teaching stand for so is nashama should have an Aliyah should have lots of nachas from his uh descendants and the main things mashir should come and we should be reunited with them here in this world okay so we're in the middle of chapter 37. and we've been talking about the mechanics of how the physical world actually becomes the holiest plane of existence we ex we started explaining it we said that when the soul comes into the world and experiences embodiment as well as it gains that uh that partner in the three-legged race you know when you know in Camp we do the three-legged race yes yes okay so you tied to two people's feet together and they have to run and it's very awkward and funny so the the soul comes into the world and it gets put in the body I guess that's the potato sack race and then it's the it's paired up with an animal cell that's like the three-legged race imagine a three-legged race in a potato section okay so but and that's all the problem that's the problem we're describing it as a problem but here in chapter 37 it's all positive he's saying actually this condition of embodiment uh provides a unique opportunity to transform to convert neutral things what we call clippersnaga that's the technical term into Holiness into kedusha that's also the technical term um and so we described the fact that every time the the the soul in a body does a mitzvah so not only is the object which the person is using to do the Mitzvah like the little love that's not stolen remember we said last week no the the asterisk that's not Orla and the tadaka money that's not stolen and uh we also added some examples of our own um but I think we I think we mentioned the coffee that we drink in order to learn Tanya didn't we say that last week I have a distinct memory of saying that earlier yeah but in addition to that not only are the physical objects that we're using becoming elevated also the the body itself which is the the agent that carries out these these Mitzvahs and then even you can work your way even further back where did the body get its energy I'm talking about its physical energy it got it from from the food and the drink that it consumed so that's also being elevated that's all part of the supply chain that ends up being turned into a Mitzvah and we from this we can start to glimpse the totality of this process how really it's very it's very feasible that through um millions of Jews inhabiting the physical plane over thousands of years there could become a a critical mass of conversion of neutral spiritual energy into Holiness just through the through the course of Performing uh Mitzvahs on a day-to-day basis okay so that's what we've discussed yes that leads to your question correct yes okay so far what you're saying is 100 correct and eventually you know kill its life you're very good well stated yeah why were we so caught up in the thoughts it's really here okay so you're asking a perfect question for this point in Tanya you're saying you know we started off and there was a whole discussion with tadigration and the difference between them and the insides and the outsides and the baby never perfects the insides you only can control the outsides and now we've come to a point and Tanya where forget about the insides we're exclusively focused on the outsides and extolling the the power of our behaviors so which you're 100 correct that is where we're up to in Tanya so your question is I'm trying to understand really your question is your question why do we even speak about all that internal stuff until this point why don't we just start Tanya from this point um or is it are we ever going to get back to the internal emotional stuff or is there a value to it okay right okay so the question that you're asking is exactly the question that I want you to ask next week but uh and it sounds like a push-off so I'll explain what what I mean by that um you're right because from chapter 35 we've been focusing on action 35 36 37 remember how 35 began it said this is a nachama this is a comfort to the beanie in other words there's a comfort to a person who realizes he will never achieve complete integration of his insights and his outsides he knows that even if he'll achieve perfect Behavior he will still be inwardly conflicted he'll always be to some extent drawn after that which is not wholesome and not conducive to service of Hashem okay so then the way we comforted him we said don't worry about that because what what's what's transformative is when you do actions and that Tyler has to do the same thing that's what he has to do as well so he calmed him down and we started focusing on action of course we're not gonna leave off with this perspective and just say okay now we've settled it it's all about action there's nothing else there's a next discussion that has to be had which is pretty much exactly what you're saying which is okay but now what do I do with that internal stuff I'm comfortable with the fact now that I'll never completely um conquer that aspect of myself I understand only at sadik achieves internal perfection but I have to have some relationship with that stuff so inform me what do I do with that stuff so that's going to be 38 39 and 40. 38 39 40 by the way is all focused on the different kinds of cavana cavana means the intent and the feeling that you have when you do the mitzvahs so this is right right where your heading is where we're it's where the Tanya's heading here action has intrinsic value yes yes that's not something it's you're right it that's not something that is widely spoken about enough widely enough spoken about um in my Parsha class you know that so this is Mondays at 11 at the Utah library on Central Avenue but uh Monday nights 8 30 p.m we have a Parsha usually it's Parsha uh evening lecture so my partial class last week for parshus I spoke at length about this idea why does Rashi say in the first verse of pecode that Maisha was taking an audit of the weight of the mishkan did Abba asks a question why does it say the weight why the mishkull it wasn't it was a financial audit not a science experiment he wanted to know how much the the donations were worth not how much the donations weighed I understand that sometimes we convey the units of currency as weights but that's not because we're using them as weights otherwise it wouldn't matter if it's gold or silver or copper if you want it's like if you're trying to get weight like let's say I need a 10 pound sandbag do I really care if it's sand or if it's water it's whatever I need the weight but if you're talking about worth okay then it matters is it gold is it silver they have different worths anyways I don't want to try to rehash that whole thing that took me uh an hour to say last Monday night you could watch it online but the bottom of the punch line was the Mish gun was a physical structure the Michigan's purpose was to provide a home for God in the physical world obviously our goal is the macrocosm to turn the entire world into a giant Mish gun which is what will happen when mashiach comes but in microcosm the idea of the Michigan was a physical resting place for Hashem in this world and therefore yeah the purpose of the purpose of that is more aligned with the concept of the weight of the donations as opposed to the the Worth or the value of the donations the Worth or the value of the donations would be like the intangible qualities meaning how much kavana a person put into it but the weight means the physicality of it the fact that it has mass physical mass and that's what counts so um yes this is a big concept it's such a big concept though that we like I said in the coming chapters we say oh by the way since this is such a powerful idea that it's all about action and the action is what's transformative we don't want to leave you there and make you think that kavana has no place has no significance and that's why we sort of pendulum swing back to the other side of the discussion and the in the coming three chapters 38 39 40 are all about exclusively about kavana about the power of the intent but yeah this is a big this is a big Point here about how the ultimate uh let's say the the the the the power of Mitzvahs are that they are physical actions and even when you can't muster any kavana that does not diminish the transformative effect that the Mitzvahs have on the world okay so are we ready to continue inside the text because I would love to maybe try to possibly finish chapter 37 this week um we got up to we're in the middle of the chapter and we're explaining a little bit of a difficult concept not so difficult but a little bit technical about the 600 000 Souls you know they're 600 000 adult men who left Egypt so there are 600 000 main Souls obviously there are more souls than that because you see there are more than six hundred thousand Jews alive right now and certain certainly throughout history if you count that all up so we're talking about main cells and from each of these cells are our offshoots um but the point was we said that sort of the physical world is apportioned into six hundred thousand uh Lots and each soul is a is is assigned that portion of the physical world obviously it gets more granular than that because there are not just main Souls there are offshoot Souls but the point of it is that there's a there's a certain quantity of the physical world that has your name on it and is awaiting your engagement with it in order to transform it from mundane to to Holy okay so that's we're in the middle of saying um yeah so now he explains these six hundred thousand souls are Source Souls root Souls of whole shadesh they break apart in to further uh Sparks which each one is an individual Souls also gets even more particular because there's not just nishama there's nothing and there's four worlds and at any rate this gets very uh very uh micro the conit okay see we are the whole Nations this is actually the gritas I think yesterday not today I hope not today because that means I'm doing the wrong media I think yesterday's today is half Zion so yesterday right okay so I'm doing the right to keep this gave out dollars was yesterday with Sam cavius was a Sunday that's right okay so yeah this is other um okay this is a very long do you know it took me years to read the sentence properly years it's a because it's a very long sentence um the sentence is like half a page and it's almost impossible to read it and translate it read it and translate it without breaking the flow of the sentence but basically I'll tell you the sentence in uh simple English why do you think the soul came to the world we think the soul came to the world for its benefit no the soul came to the soul let me back up the soul coming to the world is a is a descent for the soul right compared to where the soul is from okay why do you think it had to undergo that descent for its benefit no for the world's benefit that's that's the point of the sentence okay so let me try to read it has a and each of these Sparks meaning Every Soul did not descend to this world and it's see it's confusing because it says it did not descend but it did descend it's saying the the formulation of the sentence is it didn't descend to the world for any other purpose than what we're about to say but it takes like half a page to close that Loop okay you guys following what I'm saying all right although certainly the Soul's embodiment is an incredible descent and an incredible exile it's not pleasant for the soul you think it's fun you think it's like a vacation it's not it's the opposite it's an exile it's not going to Florida it's going to Siberia this should be familiar to you from chapter 35 we got a similar phrase even if this Saul will be the soul of attack serving Hashem with complete awe and love meaning best case scenario he's a tadiq and he's serving Hashem with complete awe and love nevertheless he'll never arrive to even a smidgen of the love and the awe that he had of Hashem before he came down so even in the best case scenario where the soul comes down he says oh hooray I was born at Sadiq it will never ever come close to the love and the awe that he had when he was back in heaven so clearly coming down to this world was not to give the soul greater opportunities for love in all of God because even in the best case scenario it's going to be far less love and all of God name clal in fact there's not even a comparison not even a comparison because you could say well the love and the law of God that the soul had in heaven is like a hundred and the love and the other God that a soul has in the world is like one so it's like a hundred times more no that's a comparison it's not even a hundred to one or a million to one or a billion to one there's no comparison as any intelligent person understands the body is incapable of bearing this so there's no way that the embodied Soul can have it's not even possible in theory for the embodied soul to experience that kind of love and awe of God so then why did it come down it's a good question so why did it come why I don't know about this thing I don't know I don't know I don't know I'm gonna read it I'm gonna find out why it came down you're talking you're talking about the word tikon yeah I don't know Ella you'll find out Ellie you read us at least who but the reason the soul came down into the physical world into a body to be tied up in three-legged race with an animal soul who it was to fix them to fix them there's your tickling Saul came down to fix the world [Music] and to separate them meaning the body and the animal soul from irredeemable how how does it do it through causing the body to keep the 365 prohibitions to keep you away from negative stuff is and conversely to elevate the body and the animal soul and all of the physical world that is allotted to it through the performance of the 2048 positive Commandments commit suicide as we said the body and the animal cell are what allows the Mitzvahs to actually be performed a commercial customer like it says that the soul itself does not at all need a chicken Soul itself does not at all Need A thick one that's what it said yeah I'm on low battery I'm nervous I'm going to lose my battery I have a charger but it's not that long of a charger I have it at home it would take me three minutes to get it but we need an extension cord even to make it work he makes a categorical statement the soul does not need a ticket now you're going to tell me I'm familiar with the idea of souls needing a chicken okay I don't know what to tell you it says here the soul doesn't need a chicken now perhaps what so you heard about the idea of a soul needing a tick on okay I heard about that idea too is saying that the Soul's need of a tikkun I'm taking Liberty's interpreting it like this but yeah there is such a concept of a soul needing it first of all the alternative has a source it's Heim vital the talmud of the Arizona so well maybe so he says like this is there a concept of a soul needing a ticket yeah sure there's such a concept so there could be a concept of a soul needing a ticket I've heard those Concepts too but here's the deal the present discussion is we're asking a more existential question we're asking could you explain to me what conditions in the first place would have Justified the entire concept of putting souls in bodies in other words don't take for granted that souls go in bodies who says that has to happen we all know it's a great descent for them we all know it's an exile for them so there has to be a justification for it I mean you don't just cause pain to souls for no reason you don't just dislocate them and and put them out of their natural habitat for no reason there has to be a reason so what's the reason so he says it can't be for the Soul's benefit for the Soul's rectification to the contrary the soul itself does not need a tick when the soul itself is perfect that's the only way it could exist in the lower worlds it needs like the lower traffic he's saying that the soul itself that the reason for the embodiment of the soul will is not to be found within the soul itself so maybe the damage is in the world and not in the person maybe the compelling Force is not that you're broken and through embodiment you'll be fixed maybe that it's that the world is imperfect and through your embodiment the world can be healed maybe that's the premise yeah so you know the Soul's coming back and you'll go live and yeah a lot of that we do hear the idea of a tikun but can I just answer that if there's something broken in the world remember we said earlier that these things are apportioned that there are parts of the world that have your name on it already so if you didn't get it the first time and then you you retire well who's going to get it who's going to pick up that piece what do all we need to begin with and come back and do it again or try I'm saying that there's some part of the world that's waiting for a specific person to elevate it so if that specific person meaning that specific Soul didn't elevate it then they're going to need another try to elevate it but it's not because there's a defect in the soul that needs correction through embodiment it's that there's something waiting in the world to be fixed and only that particular Soul can fix it he uses the word tick on he says fix now there's another concept called Aaliyah like we said at the beginning of the class we dedicated a class to an Elias and ashama to the elevation of assault the soul can always have an Alia because here's the thing the soul doesn't need tickling the soul is perfect it doesn't need to be corrected it's not broken but it can always go higher because in getting closer to the infinite there are infinite levels of closeness so the soul can always have an Alia and indeed through its embodiment the soul does receive an Aliyah after its embodiment the soul goes to a higher level than where it started from before its embodiment but it's not a tikkon the only tick on this happening here is in the world and the world is waiting for that soul to perform that tickle but we're still in the middle of this very long sentence and we're still trying to find an extension cord do we give up the extension oh my goodness so let's continue here is Hulu the soul only came into the world in order to fix them to fix the world the body the animal soul and all the stuff that it uses to do its mitzvous for whom is this is literally a metaphor and in in citizen metaphor doesn't mean a rhetorical device it means a lower lower level manifestation of the exact same phenomenon this is a metaphor for hashem's shrinath being in Galas in other words just as hashem's presence has to experience Exile within the physical world for a purpose so too does the soul which is similar to hashem's it also has to undergo this very difficult situation this exile um now we can understand why the sage is extolled the virtue of the mitzvah's DACA in such a unique way the whole time in fact in the whole Jerusalem talmud when it first it's duck it just calls it the Mitzvah without any qualifier in other words the Mitzvah par excellence foreign they used to call sadaka the Mitzvah hey go do the Mitzvah which Mitzvah no one would say that they all knew the Mitzvah means the most quintessential mitzvum the mitzvah's why is DACA the quintessential mitzvah why is Dr the quintessential Mitzvah why is it the most Mitzvah e of all mitzvahs or what's a mitzvah what's a Mitzvah according to what we're learning here connection where are you getting that from you're taking that from other places that you've learned okay yeah we've mentioned that without any Hester upon him but in the very immediate context of our discussion what's a mitzvah yeah come on me come a bodily action now you're getting closer to it yeah that elevates Clipper snowga yeah so the in the immediate context of our conversation amitsfa is a bodily action that elevates neutral things to Holy things okay so that's what every Mitzvah is whether it's fill in or it's keeping kosher or it's Shabbos or it's uh eating an Asuka on sukis or eating matzon pesach that's what I'm any Mitzvah is but you know what Mitzvah is the most mitzvahi of all mitzvahs yeah sadaka ishi is the most quintessential of all the physical Mitzvahs in fact it is the the chief of that yeah everything that we say is only true for the minute that we're saying it it's like the weather in Chicago where I grew up if you don't like it wait a minute it'll change okay Paula it's not Boston it's Chicago no but I know because the people in Boston stole it from Chicago okay okay the purpose of all mitzvahs is to elevate the physical energy of the body that does the mitzvahs and to cause that physical energy to become reabsorbed in the infinite vain you don't have any other Mitzvah that includes so much power of the animal Soul than the mitzvah's DACA think about it you're only using the energy that it takes to do the Mitzvah itself alphabets.com but when you do to darker he's giving money that he worked for now all of the energy that he put into his work is getting elevated as well all the energy that he put into making that money is now getting elevated amazing now I can ask a question I have a brother-in-law that he says that he says he's uh he does stocks but really just bought some Apple stock 20 years ago and he uh doesn't really then he does a couple uh deals on the side that lose money but he's got his dividends from his Apple stock from 20 years ago from 30 years ago and you call that working for a living and when he gives duck are you telling me that elevates anything so he says even somebody who has money that he didn't toil he's not a construction worker trust fund baby Nicole Market nevertheless the money could have been used to procure his physical needs and now he uses it to do a Mitzvah so all of the potential for procuring physical needs becomes elevated to amitzville that's why I said to say this DACA brings the Gula because now you understand what is Gula is when we reach the critical mass of the physical world being used in alignment for Godly purpose so how does that happen it happens through the Mitzvahs that Jews do which we Now understand what are Mitzvahs Mitzvahs are acts that elevate neutral physical energy of your body and your animal soul and of the physical resources that you're using to do the mitzvah and when that we reach that critical mass where enough of that neutrality is elevated that's so what mitzvah is the most powerful and impactful in bringing about that state called gula the Mitzvah of tadaka which the whole Mitzvah is the transformation the elevation of of this oh we have an extension cord what you're seeing now is more of an emotional catharsis I know I'm fat and out of shape and running knocked me out but more I gotta tell you um emotionally it's very tense I don't know why like I feel such high stakes but like getting that yeah so I finally got this thing plugged in I see the thing charging like life is good like if I could just have that feeling oh if I could just be in that space all day long yeah I'll take that it's true okay all right yes okay my first question is okay so we we you want to ask both questions or no okay but so I that that question was answered very much like in passing so so now say it say say it clearly yes correct okay so does the sole benefit or does it not benefit everything it's like everything Jewish it depends how you look at it okay yes it does receive an elevation from its embodiment it doesn't go back to the same level of on love that it had before look the on love thing is really best experience without a body the body gets in the way of the on love so where's the soul gonna experience the most all in love in heaven now within Heaven itself there are levels so pre-embodiment post embodiment first time around second time around but it's always going to be the intense on love stuff is going to happen in heaven to what degree that'll depend upon what it achieved during its embodiment prior okay but that's not the reason why the soul came to the world the soul didn't come to the world because of the Aliyah that it receives in fact I would almost go as far as to say that the Aliyah that the soul and this is gonna you're gonna like this based on a comment you made earlier I would almost go as far as to say if I had more guts I would go as far as to say that the uh the ascent that the soul receives because of its embodiment is incidental it doesn't explain the purpose for embodiment and it certainly doesn't explain the purpose for Why God created a physical plane so it's not the answer to the burning existential questions oh the whole thing is all worth it because the nashama is going to have Taino that explains the whole thing it doesn't explain the whole thing it's a fringe benefit that's right now if we explain that the whole purpose was like the Madison says he had a taiva an irrational or super rational desire for a Dwelling Place in the physical world that he created a a realm that is the ultimate in concealment and he wants the Paradox of the ultimate concealment becoming the place of the ultimate Revelation and that's what's driving Hashem okay so now we understand what it's all about and therefore Souls have to come down into the physical world because that's the only way they can transform the physical world and by the way why through souls in the first place why not just let Hashem do it ah because then that's not coming from the world that's coming from him so to have a Dwelling Place in the lower Realms doesn't just mean that's where it's located it means also that's the process through which the the dwelling place is created he doesn't want one that he makes from above to below he wants one that we make as souls in by from the darkness which is why by the way that the temple is still holy and Mount Sinai is not because the Revelation at Sinai was completely unilateral God came down Easy Come Easy Go it wasn't transformative but the temple was built through human partnership so therefore that sanctity remains forever so is the premise of everything that happens in the world it's because Hashem has darkness in the world we come down we struggle us and the struggle is what it allows us to have that Clarity and much more light than we would have had if we wouldn't have had the stroke but Clarity is the same as love and awe meaning it's not the purpose it's a nice Fringe benefit clarity is a subjective experience just like love and awe are subjective so revelation well there are two kinds of Revelation there's objective and subjective the purpose for the embodiment of the soul is not to increase the subjective Revelation that the soul experiences it is to increase the objective Revelation the objective Revelation means when mashiach comes everyone will know it everyone will see it in fact not just all human beings but even the animal kingdom yeah that the soul says no I don't want to go down right comfortable do that so yes because because but then the question is well what's the purpose of our involvement for whose benefit is it and I wanted to say something when when we're talking about these very lofty Concepts nobody's wrong okay these are all different legitimate opinions you know what I I I enjoy and I mean that sarcastically meaning I hate it um how the internet has affected even the most supposedly holy segments of the Jewish world that we are so polarized the internet is good at that it puts you in an echo chamber and then you hate anyone who doesn't think like you now for thousands of years Jewish people understood that the most fun that could be had was through a machlaikus was through a dispute for the sake of Heaven and we understood the nuances of different opinions okay so now because the internetification of people's brains anyone who doesn't think like me is a kaifer okay I'm going to say something there are two different approaches they're both legitimate approaches within Yiddish kite they're both legitimate approaches one approach is that the ultimate drive and the ultimate purpose is I'll oversimplify it and say how existence ultimately benefits me now why would God create an existence from my benefit because he's good and that's what he wants to do and that's one world view and I'm sure that's a world view that's very familiar to many of you because it's a very popular one that is not the balotanya's worldview that is not the balutanius worldview is saying especially in this chapter that the world was created because of a desire that Hashem had Hashem was working on a project that was of interest to him and any benefit that we may accrue is almost incidental to that so is the world here for me or is it here for hasha Tanya says the world's here for Hashem and we play a very important role more than very important that's damning we think praise we play the essential role in bringing about that which Hashem is seeking now how can a perfect entity seek anything okay fine so now we have a nice philosophical discussion but you're going to have philosophical discussions from the other point of view as well about why why is that happening I mean you could be an Aristotelian and say that he's so good it just automatically overflows from him and he can't even control it but that sounds even weirder than saying that Hashem has a desire so there are there are theological discussions and philosophical discussions it will ensue from either approach I just want you to understand and I'm oversimplifying by categorizing this into two different uh World Views one there's probably many more nuances than that but I just want you to understand when the altareba is stressing here the idea that the soul did not come for a tick one but rather to provide a tick on for uh the physical world and to bring it out of its neutral Clipper State and bring it into a caduceus state so basically what he's saying is that the soul didn't come here for itself okay what are we going to say according to the Australia but there's no such thing as fish alone why why would you say that because I was not obviating that concept but by the way how would uh explain it explains like this the concealment bishvili it's my problem to deal with the concealment God concealed himself whose problem is that I don't know my problem no it is my problem my entire life has to be devoted to transforming the concealment into revelation makes sense it's God's problem and we're here to help you out no it's God's problem we're here to help him out um well I'm I'm okay with that the desire dear yeah Dwelling Place in the lower Realms which means the ultimate Paradox of the infinite revealed within the final which can only happen when we turn physical neutral things into holy things yes so it's God's project that we out of our sensitivity make our project how do we benefit well we benefit in many ways I mean first of all we've been speaking about the Elias and ashama I mean none of us want to die but yeah right right ah right right right right okay okay it probably is okay how do you know so the question is how do you know where the stuff is that has your name on it yeah okay yeah okay okay so here's what I want to tell you the land shall be divided by Lottery it's talking about how the 12 tribes were allotted no pun intended but allotted and Lottery yeah it's interesting um how the how the land was apportioned to the 12 tribes yeah Lottery we're still on there still the month of the lottery buy a ticket um what does that mean the land and in the light of chapters 35 36 37 when I say the word the land it has a whole new meaning now to you doesn't it the land doesn't just mean the land of Israel the land means the physical plane physicality it shall be apportioned portions of the physical world shall be assigned to various souls for they for them to be assigned with the task of elevating those parts of the world through Lottery what does a lottery mean it means that sometimes the part of the world that I was assigned for elevating doesn't make sense on paper sometimes it does but it doesn't have to in other words if you sit down and you say well here are my talents here are my resources here are my preferences here's what I'm going to go after here's what I'm going to Target these are the sparks in this world that I think I should go after I think it makes sense that those are mine Maybe it's nice to have such a plan I'm not making fun of the whole idea of it but then you open up the door and you walk out into the world and a different Mitzvah presents itself to you what do you do do you push aside the mits for the presented itself and say get out of my way I'm on a mission I already figured out where my Sparks are depends on what chapter you're depends on what chapter in you could save that line for the rest of this question you could always say that line and you'll always be right exactly if you will just say the answer would be that's that's yeah that's right yeah that's right very good you could always say it depends on what Champion okay very good that's always going to be true the one thing that's always going to be true is depends what chapter are you in okay so I set out on a mission to go do a Mitzvah that according to my calculations seems like that's my spark in the world but then another Mitzvah comes and meets me on the way what do you do the real question yeah obviously so the lottery the lottery means that you know this vote probably is real uh uh yeah it's it's really not good for people with executive functioning issues these are the people that show up like four hours after a bris and they're like did I miss it oh on the way I saw a lady who needed her groceries to be brought in and no I can't lift the groceries but then I found some day laborers and I hired them from and I brought them to her house and I let them do a Mitzvah there's a lot of Mitzvahs anyways does anyone have uh any can I still wash okay all right but the point is the lottery is the lottery so the way that you know where your Sparks are is Hashem doesn't make this overly difficult he doesn't make it overly burdensome he doesn't play games with us he presents us the Sparks you know I would say you know I this is this is a I'm dating myself but I do that all the time but yeah so it's like the the 1980s Lakers Magic Johnson a six foot nine point guard which was kind of an anomaly but he would set up everyone else to score that's why Kareem until recently was the scoring leader I mean also he had longevity in his career but I wonder what percentage someone could Google this what percentage of Kareem's field goals were assists from Magic at any rate the point is sorry Paula I hate the Celtics still that's in my blood I I grew up in Chicago in the 80s and I was left with only one sport of strong Sports emotion and that is a hatred for the Boston Celtics that's the only thing that remained that's what I'm talking about no you thought I was talking about Magic Johnson oh that was just a marshall that was just a muscle by the way all these references are mashalem they're yeah yeah so Hashem presents us with an alley-oop pass you know the alley-oop sweat throw up the ball like you lob it up and then the other guy comes and grabs it and dunks it yeah so Hashem provides us with the alley-oop pass to come and swoop in and slam dunk the ball into the baskets you like that yeah okay you don't get it what Sparks are everywhere the question is where are your Sparks in front of your face that's right I said does he make it easy he makes it easy he presents us with opportunities that may on paper not appear to be our mission but they come to us they present themselves to us and we have to have the sensitivity to seize those opportunities as they come to us and as far as the notion that'll keep you up at night that well maybe my Sparks are in China yeah okay yeah maybe maybe they are so here's what I want to tell you no you cannot choose where you want your Sparks tied into one yes yes yes yes okay so I'll tell you very quickly a story there's a story there was once a guy since we're overtime anyways but we missed time because I was running to get the charger okay so there was once a guy there anything out there who he was a watchmaker and he went to the river marash the fourth Rabb of Chabad and he said I have an opportunity to move to a town where they don't have a watchmaker and I would make good money but the problem is see right now I live in pollutsk which is a Jewish Community the town I would move to is called Vladimir and there's no Jewish community in fact the only Jews who lived there are cantonists they're Jews who were conscripted for 20 years in the tsar's Army and they're only culturally Jewish they have a shul but they don't know how to dive in they can't read Hebrew so but they they buy watches right so should I go should go so anyways he went and he made a lot of money I'm telling the story very quickly he did very well okay he come he comes back to Lubavitch for a second to tell that she's making a lot of money asks him and what are you learning with these guys like do you have shoot them do you set up classes with these cantones he's like for what to teach Olive base they can't read he's like yeah do you learn all the face with them he says I'm barely keeping up like thank God business is so booming so I barely keep up with my own learning and uh no I don't I can't learn out of base with these with these cantoners so the river marash says to him why do you think that Hashem sent you to this town do you think and listen to how he says it do you think that Hashem could not have provided you with a livelihood in polotsky Hashem took your parnassa and put it in that other town for the sole purpose of luring you to the place where your Soul's mission is located that's the story I'm not telling you dramatically but the point of it is if your Sparks are in China Hashem will force you to go to China he will create reasons that compel you to go there now those will not be the real reasons why you're going to China but it will create a scenario that will compel you to go to the place where your Sparks are if there's no scenario compelling you to go there that there's there's a reason why you're not going there because you don't have any Sparks over there you got this but I don't relate to it for myself because I feel like oh I'm just here you relate to it for everybody else okay that's another discussion you want this on the record or off the Record off the Record okay and we're finishing the recording okay all right