Text-Based Tanya—Week #83

okay weekly text based Tanya what chapter are we on 49 49 great now as I mentioned last week ended I wouldn't exactly call a cliffhanger but it felt a little bit at least to me it felt it always feels like a little bit of a cliffhanger because Tanya is all about practical application it's not just mystical Concepts it's the practical application of the mystical Concepts so last week when we finished 48 we started and finished 48 it didn't really tell us what to do with the information that we learned so that's what we're going to get this week in 49 is the application but before we do that I just want to review last week so 48 last week that was we were introduced to a very deep profound mystical concept what in one word what is the fancy correct technical term term for that tum simum very good okay now there are different Tsum every world you know the word for world is which is hel a world is a concealment every layer of creation conceals a little bit more of the Creator but when we speak about the and each world is the product of another layer of simum but when we speak about the radical first simum what we're talking about is the phenomenon in which Infinity created the possibility for finitude okay so it's not just a qualitative or quantitative diminishment of the light it is a radical change in the very nature of existence or at least how existence is experienced does everyone follow this if you don't follow this I don't know check your check your email so you isn't there a line S what is there something timum yeah that's timum that's plugged up heart yeah that was chapter who remers since you brought it up Which chapter was that yeah 28 29 good you came close Okay I almost had Nas no I had n it good it's close you very good very good it very close okay all right I'm proud okay no I'm definitely proud okay so I met a br earlier by the way okay so let's jump into [Music] 49 now the different types of concealment of the infinite light how they create this process that ultimately culminates in the physical world are innumerable and there are tons of them uh as is known to those who study literally it says to those who have tasted of the tree of life but that means those who have studied cabala however in general there are three General levels or categories of which correspond to the three worlds and then there are subsets of tens of thousands of levels within each of these categories these three categories of tum or the products of Tsum are known as Bri and a I could translate those words it's not really that helpful Bria means creation y means formation AIA means doing it's not that helpful without a lengthy elaboration at any rate there are three worlds and he does not count atos because he says ailos is Mos is a world that's hardly a world it's more Creator than creation it's basically transparent so it hardly categorizes as a world is it like where our loved ones go you're talking about souls that are disembodied after 120 uh no no they go to ganaden and that corresponds either to yut or to Bri is there any in yeah there is Tsum but not look Everything's Relative so relative to the essence yeah there's simum but relative to Creation as we relate to it atus has no simum Everything's Relative okay so when we speak about products of simum Worlds or systems of reality that are products of simum we gener generally are referring to Bri and AIA to the exclusion of aus which is just far too lofy to be considered a product of simpsom relative to this conversation okay okay now in order to create the world of Bria where you have souls and Angels very lofty ones who serve Hashem with intellect and these angels and souls they are able to understand some degree of godliness there needed to be a great symptom first as mentioned above why why do there need to be a great symptom for these souls and angels to have their intellectual appreciation of godliness because if it weren't were part of it yeah if there were no simum then they would be subsumed within it because it would be infinite and it would overtake them and then they would have no subjective experience of it so clearly the fact that these lofty souls and lofty angels in Bri are capable of understanding godliness means it is a presentation of godliness which is not unbridled Infinity otherwise it would not be possible to have a subjective experience of it now between and there's another because relative to is considered infinite infinite is a a relative term everything's a relative term if you learn one thing if people have been here for the past two years or more who have who are veterans of this class if you know one thing you should know that everything we learn is [Applause] relative so yeah there needs to be a between Bri and and then also between and because compared to or compared to a is too infinite relatively speaking I guess that's what compared to means bracket he says and this is all explained elsewhere to help you understand really what these three categories of tsim Tsum mean veterans or anyone who's brave enough to make a guess why does he say elsewhere that if you really want to understand simum in in detail he says it's elsewhere it's it's not in this book right because that's not the point of this book it's not the point of this book He's mentioning tum because it's going to be useful to us in a personal development type of way which is the theme of this book okay you want to understand the subject of tum in depth this is not the book F now the ultimate endgame the whole point of all these is what what's the point of it let's see what he says to create the physical body of the person the whole point of all thealist the chainlike order of descent of world after World compounding concealment upon concealment is all for what purpose to produce the physical body of the person which then affords the possibility of subjugating the other side meaning negativity because you can't do that when you don't have a body which thereby brings about the advantage of light over dark light overcoming dark or even light from dark what happens is the person has to raise himself up or his Godly Soul he has to raise it up and it's laim what are the three garments of the Soul three garments of the Soul thoughts speech and action Which chapter two two three you guys are close four four all right okay so to raise up The Godly soul and its three garments of thought speech and action over the the animal Soul which is sort of slepping it down and wanting it to engage in selfish indulgent things and to dedicate these three garments of thought speech and action only to the service of Shem as explained earlier at length at length okay now you see how we're getting into the personal development stuff right yeah okay he says it again and this is the ultimate purpose the point of all the chainlike Descent of Worlds why were all these worlds created to create the condition of embodiment that you could overcome through your free will okay so far so good okay now I want you to stop me if the words I'm about to read are familiar to you yeah those words are familiar what does that mean Kam upon him him like water reflects a face to a face yeah we SP yeah where do we speak about this the angry guy he wasn't angry he was stuck in a really dark place he was he lived in a garbage hill okay he was a loser who lived on a garbage hill and the King came to and the King came to him yeah what chapter was this something it's in theer 40 40ss long time ago yeah we had the high holidays so everything feels like a long time ago chapter 46 the loser who lived on a garbage hill that was three chapters ago yeah no way go look it up open your Tanya and go look so this loser lived on a garbage hill he had no friends everyone hated him and who befriended him of all people the king this was love and all yeah and the King took him off the garbage heap and took him home to the palace and hugged him and that's a parable that describes how we were in a very low place in Egypt and God himself personally not his Messengers came and took us out and brought us to a of intimate Union with him at SI and therefore just like in the parable when the loser lives on a garbage hill gets a hug from the King he feels so loved by the king then he is automatically feeling loving toward the king because like water reflects a face to a face so does the heart reflect emotions it mirrors them back right so too when we think about hashem's love for us specifically as embodied in The Exodus story it automatically triggers a reciprocal love on our part toward Hashem so it's Hashem who makes the first has makes the first move he made the first move wednes everyone yeah so let's be careful okay yeah I know this is your constant theme okay so that's why I'm going to recommend to you it's a chicken and egg thing you're always going to ask about hashem's love to you well okay all right so uh yeah chicken and egg you can also try to work on your love to Hashem yeah but he already did he already did he already made the first move three chapters ago we three chapters ago he made the first again huh we're in well that's why he says in chapter 47 going out of Egypt is every day just the first line of 47 is going out of Egypt is every day okay but listen to this we have this concept of kamam again that was introduced in chapter 46 the reciprocal love remember what was Nifty about that we said that it's a straight easy path because we said that it's already wired into our psyche it's already the way that we're set up that our hearts reflect back emotions so we've been learning about all these different methods for generating love of Hashem this is a particularly effective method because you don't have to create that love all you have to do is feel the love he has toward you and then automatically the way the heart works is that you will feel love back toward him so there were types of love that we needed to go meditate and create that love quote unquote from scratch you know but this is a love we don't have to create all we have to do is submit ourselves to a process and feeling that love is the automatic result of that process does everyone understand okay so this is sort of like Kam upon upon Him part two this is another application of upon upon fine follow this just like the Holy One so to speak compartmentalized himself to the side so to speak not literally Parable in a parable type way in a metaphorical way his infinite light took his infinite light and he pushed it to the side and he put himself aside in order to create these three categories of Tsum that we described and the whole purpose of it was in order to ultimately create the physical person okay you follow this hashem's experience stop being self-consumed think about hashem's experience I want you to stop thinking about your experience be empathetic to Hashem for one second here's this being who is infinite he's been infinite for eternity and one day he says I'm going to make space for another and he compresses himself so to speak okay we're using the language that we can use we're doing our best obviously this stuff is metaphorical but and he compresses himself so to speak to make room for the existence of an other and not just a theoretical abstract other but a tangible other where you can actually have a physical existence that feels like it exists separately from him I didn't say to feel bad what what empathy empathy empathy for you're already you're already rationalizing why you don't want to have the empathy and I'm ex and I'm I'm just begging you just it's just a thought experiment very strange it's just a thought experiment so we're describing hashem's experience and you're already judging it and saying well I don't think it's a valid experience please set aside judgment you see how much Hashem is judged set aside your judgment for a second and just be objective and just listen this is his experience you don't have to agree with it you just have to accept that this is his experience okay because here's the beauty of it we don't need your agreement what's going to happen is going to happen automatically cuz I already told you how we're wired I already told you that reciprocal love is a thing so watch what's going to happen and if you're honest intellectually honest it will happen automatically okay so think about the fact that Hashem so to speak compartmentalized himself made room for the finite World which ultimately is for the purpose of creating you as a physical being so that what you could transcend that and reunite with him as opposed to just being one with him all along because love pushes aside the flesh anyone who I would say from the original generation of people who studied Tanya knew exactly the source of that phrase they all knew it was from the gamot they knew it was a Tomic expression uh they all knew the reference you want it should I tell you what it is you can look it up it's in the talmud can you explain it no's looking up that's what I just asked you should I tell you what it is love pushes away the flesh love pushes away the flesh it's uh I'm going to be very very uh PG 13 as much as I can here really so I shouldn't tell you go ahead there's a discussion in talmud about particular sages who were extremely obese extremely obese and then the question was about how they managed to uh be with their wives and the talmud says well love pushes aside the flesh that when there's when there's a will there's a way when there's that motive or motivation I guess then you can make room and you figure it out so that's what it's talking about so anybody who studied this book 200 years ago knew exactly the reference and understood what is the Ala saying here he's saying basically Hashem loves us I guess with that type of love romantic love passionate love could even call it uh call it it the carnal desire quite literally carnal desire yeah that he pushes himself aside so to speak now obviously there's no Hashem has no body or bodily likeness that's one of the 13 fundamental beliefs that my manes enumerates but you have to Adit imagine Infinity making room for the finite so that you can physically exist it's an act of profound humility and making space for the other on hashem's part okay now again the the point of this book is not to teach you mystical Concepts the point of the book is practical guidance so what are we going to do with this information I already told you you don't have to do anything with it you just have to allow it to affect you I told you the reciprocal manner or the reciprocal nature of of the heart I'm I mean I couldn't Telegraph this to you any more clearly what is the reciprocal feeling that is going to automatically ensue or be mirrored back to Hashem when we pick up on the fact that his love causes him to set himself aside to make room for us what is the mirror response that we're going to automatically feel we will want to set ourselves aside to make room for him what does it mean to set ourselves aside it means what we feel or our animal Soul feels is important and to set that aside to make room for him meaning the way he wants us to live our lives so instead of having to force yourself to be FR because that's what it says in the books it's actually like wow Hal is reading my beloved's diary and finding out all the things that they want and dream of and now I get to do it for them as an act of Love okay yeah okay let's continue let's go here how much more so doubled and redoubled and infinitely so if Hashem pushes himself aside how much more so to an infinite extent is it fitting for a person to abandon all everything that he possesses from his soul to his flesh and to relinquish it all to surrender it all in order to cleave to Hashem with true attachment bonding without any obstruction internally or externally what would mean obstructions or distractions that would get in the way of me completely abandoning myself and surrendering myself to hem goof not my body not my vivifying soul meaning the the energy that keeps me alive not my money my possessions get ready for this and I'll explain it after I finish the sentence Thea and not wife and children oh you all had to gasp because you know as well as I do that the original audience for this book were men you can cringe if you want to cringe but I'll explain it to you very clearly a person naturally has certain instincts of self-preservation remember remember we were learning we've been learning for months maybe years at this point about self-transcendence and selfishness and selfishness doesn't just mean you eat the last piece of cake selfishness has a lot of levels to it it can be on a very very subtle level ultimately a person can be religious out of selfishness they can do mitv they can give they can do kindness and be a Wonder ful person and we wouldn't tell them to stop being a wonderful person because everyone's benefiting from it but ultimately if you really analyze it the motives are self- serving I don't mean they're venal corrupt cynical motives but on a subtle level it is self- serving we've spoken about this in this class that even the desire for reward in ganaden is selfish it's a spiritual type of selfishness But ultimately it's about self even when we are acting selflessly and putting someone else ahead of ourselves it's not natural we do it based on some calculation and that calculation makes sense and in order to make sense to an organism which is programmed for survival it has to be advantageous what I'm telling you is that when the AL says to you set aside all of your natural desires he knows he's touching a nerve he knows exactly the nerve that he's touching he's saying when I say render it all for God I don't just mean are you ready to empty out your bank account for God that touches a nerve but not the deepest nerve he says even your instinctive desire for your wife and children can you set that aside can you set that aside now that doesn't mean to abandon them God forbid how do I know that being spiritually surrendered to God doesn't mean abandoning your family but that's not the formula of Tor supposed to be the formula for Torah meaning as outlined in right I'm not theorizing based on like some some Concepts I'm saying practically speaking you have an obligation to support your family in fact charity starts at home when it comes to the Mitzvah s you actually have to support your family first so I know it doesn't mean to abandon your family and if you look in theba the the obligations go cheap of not just monetary support but honor respect there there is an obligation Al to be committed to one's family so clearly we don't mean that somebody should abandon their family what does it mean what we mean is just just I want to finish this chapter what we mean is you have your human reasons for valuing your family we're telling you to let go of that and just do whatever God wants from you happens to be that after you completely surrender to God he's going to tell you to take care of your family but not because you're a human being who instinctively cares for your family but rather because God told you to take care of your family so that's he he knows exactly the nerve that he's touching when the AL says you want to really surrender to God ask yourself even when you take care of your wife and children do you do it because it's human or do you do it because you've surrendered to God and that's what God expects you to do that's like yeah and yeah it is yes it is it's very very it's very intense it is intense so what about for women though so how just flip it same thing same thing and can you imagine telling a Jewish mother do you love your children because you were hardwired to love your children or have you gotten past that human level graduated to a superhuman level where you love your children because they're God's children that he entrusted you with sounds like my parenting class it is yeah but but but listen but listen but listen listen listen listen listen listen that we're saying is this crazy high level like who's on that level some tus but here's precisely the point he's saying anyone can be on that level you know why because you know how you attain that feeling just mirroring hashem's feeling what does that mean so what does it mean what it means is this if anybody's going to come to me next week and say I learned chapter 49 and I didn't feel reciprocal love to Hashem I'm not going to actually scream but I'm going to feel like screaming because you can't just learn this chapter and be like I didn't have the mirror love activated in me you have to go meditate on it and when I suggest gested it as a thought experiment for 15 seconds people resisted it so I know that we didn't really do it what you're going to have to do when you're ready to no pressure but when you're ready to meditate on one thing Hashem putting aside his Infinity to create the possibility of the finite so that you could exist as a physical being and really really really try to feel hashem's motivation of love for you and that's it if you tap into that it will automatically trigger in you a feeling of love to him and not just a feeling of love a very specific type of love for him which is what a love that will motivate you to what well the payoff is to do the Mitzvah but pretty much do of yourself do timum of yourself do but but but exactly but here's here's the beauty of it nobody's telling you do timum of yourself in fact not only nobody's telling you that be stupid to tell you that because just from where where am I going to get the motivation to do that so we don't tell you that what we do is we say let me tell you a story on that meditate on it here's the story here's what Hashem did for you and I promise you if it seeps in when it makes contact with those places in your heart it will automatically trigger a feeling toward him but don't we do that when we do a Mitzvah when we do the Mitzvah we we're acting as if it doesn't mean that we have that motivation we don't neily have that but we do have of to a certain extent yeah you're saying when we do a Mitzvah we're setting ourselves aside because we're doing what hasem wants rather than what we want right okay but but but he's talking about else here he's not saying hey next time you feel like doing whatever the heck you want re yourself in and have some timum he's not saying that he's actually saying it's natural it'll happen it'll happen it'll happen think about hashem's experience allow it to affect you the way that it'll naturally affect you and something superhuman will happen where you're able to set aside your personal interests even the most and like I said he knows exactly the nerve he's touching the most B basic hardwired personal interests which are are our instinct to take care of our family okay all right okay and now you can understand I know you're all wondering about this you're on the edge of your seat now we're going to finally understand the idea of the blessings of shma I know that you were all up all night wondering about the blessings of shma so now learned about this in a different chapter too about the final blessings on their way out of the world saying the I don't remember what chap did it's in your notes oh oh oh oh that's about shma yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah we spoke about shma as the expression of of self-sacrifice what yeah yeah give us KN uh very good that's fair game um where did he say and that's whyu no no was it 25 is it 25 you don't know that's the truth no no no but you look in your notes I'm looking 25 we need a search button not you need a search button in the notes yes it is is it 25 you found it itss about thank God it's almost [Laughter] dethroned okay by the way newcomers you should see this is a very high level class you see that I'm very seriously very high level class I'm very like kind of like gym coach style like like very demanding of this class but the people in this class know Tanya they know Tanya I mean it's pretty impressive okay all right let's finish the chapter we have five minutes let's finish the chapter okay um fine so what what's the deal with the blessings [Music] ofma [Music] so like the and other commentaries ask what is the relationship between the blessings of shma and shma like blessings of shma don't seem to be talking about shma the purpose of is to love AEM with both of your hearts not but love with both your Hearts meaning with both of your inclinations your which means like we said before to stand up and overcome all internal obstacles against hashem's against loving Hashem yeah we're going to trigger you again your heart means your wife and children which you are instinctively naturally inclined to love and what does it mean to love hem with all your soul and all your might it means with your physical health and with your monetary possessions so basically to put your relationship with hem in front of family health and money and again no this doesn't mean I'm sorry if you met a narcissist who was religious and used religion as his excuse to abuse you I'm sorry if you had that experience but no this is not talking about people who are negligent of their families I told you already any Torah observant Jew who follows the the dictates of Torah law must take care of their family okay we're talking about is what your motive is are you doing it because it's human or are you doing it because it is God God's mandate okay so how do you get to that level where you're doing it because it's God's mandate how can a physical being attain such a level how can you do it now we all know the answer how to do it right right but specifically to trigger the reciprocal love the reciprocal love that is precisely the point of the blessing there it speaks about all of the various angels on high why to tell you the greatness of how all of these great lofty angels are nullified to him and these lofty lofty Angels they look up at hm and they say Kesh Kesh doesn't just mean holy it means separated from they they can't they can't Unite with him he's he's Beyond them and yetem unites himself with his people the Jewish people and then there's the Angels they him they also they want to become one with hem and and they can't do it and then there's another you've loved us with an eternal love you set aside all of the Angelic hosts and you and you chose to have your your dwell upon us that we should refer to you as our God possessively our God you belong to us like when we say the god of Abraham so too we can say the god of each and every one of us he says again that term because love compels the flesh sets aside the Flesh in other words what we're describing is how all the Angels want a closer relationship with Hashem they're all straining to come closer to him and they cannot attain that and yet Hashem gave us that relationship that they covet so much that's why it's called you thought means eternal love no means World it means worldly love it means you loved us with a love of the world and other words you took your infinite love and you compressed it into a finite world because of your desire to be one with us because of your love for the for your people and your desire to become one with them that's what it means abundant extra love and grace what does it mean abundant it means that the love that hem showed the Jewish people is far greater than anything that the Angels were privy to I want to finish this but uh if I go quickly we can finish it in five minutes four and a half and you chose us among all the nations and languages who you know what okay you know we might have to break here because he just all right this is a deep concept you chose us among all the nations he says you chose us means you chose our physical body which appears identical to the bodies of other human beings that's a very important concept maybe I need to like kind of stitch things up and then come back next week the choice when I we say Hashem chose the Jewish people specifically means he chose their bodies not their souls yes yes and again this is all about the theme of Hashem pushed himself aside for for all for what purpose for you to have your physical existence okay and then once you realize that then the mirror response is then my entire physical existence should be pushed aside so to speak to to to show him love okay last question let's wrap it up yeah is it because if it was a choice on the soul level we're ENT we're clearly different than the other nations that yeah you said it very quickly and suly yes that's it yeah yeah but I'll explain you know BL that I'll explain it next we'll come back to yes that's it but I'll elaborate next week okay let's wrap it up we'll come back we'll finish chapter 49 God willing next week okay