What We've MISSED About the Yetzer Hara | Ten Minutes of Meaning | Tanya #44

Good morning, good morning, Boca Boca back to 10 minutes of meaning in Tanya generously sponsored by Marilyn Michael Feig please help yourself to coffee slushies pastries and corner 0 side we just observed you should thank you to the Feigs we continue learning Tanya together we are up to parik test chapter 9 of the Tanya and in chapter 9 in parik test of Tanya we have gone through understanding the war that takes place inside each and every one of us about Tanya has established the two parts of our personality the Godliness in us not as if there's God in us but there is an actual piece of God in us we spoke yesterday in the parsha sure that's why the after come over we can love our neighbor as ourselves because I need a sham when you realize there's a piece of God in every person by definition there is something to love if you simply look and search you will find it that's why it says the same way we have to have a moon in a sham we have to have a moon in ourselves because there is a piece of God in us a Godly soul the capacity to be disciplined to be in control but on the other hand there's an animal soul there's a bahami there's a the sitra there's the dark side and that's the inner struggle that we all go through from the moment we're born until the day we leave this world will our life be defined by ego or cos will we search our own pleasure our own happiness our own ego or are we living for a sham as his emissary ambassador his agent are we trying to repair are we trying to redeem his world that's the inner struggle that's the battle in the metaphor of the Tanya the two armies that are fighting over the same territory whose rules will reign who will be supreme who will be the ruler and the king our body our goof is that territory that the two souls are battling over and they're battling after so we spoke about what the Godly soul wants the Godly soul wants to live for not for ego the Godly soul wants to channel and direct and transform and train the animal in us not purge or destroy not or eliminate but to train that animal in us to be able to transform our experience with all of the physical things in this world to be able to transform and elevate the three the three garments of the soul speech thought and action and to be able to elevate them to serve the Godliness but what does the animal soul want that's what we're up to the very end of parik test in Tanya a nefesh my clip but the animal soul which is from clip we said there are four types of clip the three negative clips and clips that depends on our intent and our consciousness and our mindfulness but the animal soul in us comes from the world of clip and our world of clip wants the exact opposite she is gaber the the animal soul the animal drive the animal impulse it ultimately it too is also for our good and it exists only so that we'll be challenged to overcome it and reign supreme over it now this is a big of the Tanya so radically different way of looking at the Sahara if you're in the challenge we have 2200 people doing a 30 day technology challenge right now if you're in it you got the text early this morning day three today's challenge was about the Sahara and the challenge today I've set your timer 5 minutes before you go on your phone and so on we have many people the feedback has been outstanding and that's what this challenge is all about these 30 days is this clip of the Sahara that compulsively is drawing us to our phone to technology to mindless scrolling and watching and shopping how can we break that pattern and how can we restore our sense of autonomy how can we take back our free will and our choice so the classic way of looking at the Sahara we talk about the Sahara classic way of looking at or thinking about the Sahara is that the Sahara is the evil inclination the Sahara is our Kryptonite it's our categorically negative or bad and we've got to purge it and get rid of it and slaughter it and destroy it and it's a terrible terrible thing but it's not how saw it when they talk about a tov and tov tells us is the tov tov is the Sahara the good inclination that's good but the bad inclination the negative inclination what we call the Sahara what that's tov old that's really good now what does that mean said it's really good one understanding of it we can identify with maybe is that if man didn't have what is the most carnal Sahara we have maybe the most universal also the most self sabotaging and self destructive is the libido is the Sahara if unencumbered and unguarded this week's parsha the when a person doesn't have healthy boundaries and moral borders in interpersonal relationships it gets that person into into big trouble into big trouble that's the biggest Sahara but if a person didn't have that desire physical desire for intimacy how many men would get married how many would invest and compromise and sacrifice in building a relationship would the world even continue could the world even have a continuity to it so that's how understood that the Sahara that's old because without it people wouldn't be invested and would do what was necessary in order to have in order to have relationships but the Tanya here without referencing that is understanding a little bit differently and he's saying the following that the nefesh bahami is a Adam you know that very thing that you think is your Kryptonite the very thing that you're fighting that urge that you struggle with to eat the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong amount the urge to sleep in and press snooze and miss whatever you were supposed to get to early in the morning that urge to gossip and slander and share that good juicy that urge to look at or watch what you shouldn't be gazing at whatever that urge is that seeks to undermine us and we say I wish there were a shot or a pill I could take to get rid of it I wish that there was a shot or a pill I could take to manage this Sahara like people are managing others I wish don't wish so quickly says the Tanya you know why because that urge that bahami that Sahara that sitra that dark side in you that was created for you when you face it and you confront it and you fight it and you overcome it there's nothing better than that there's nothing better than that that's also she is gaber display your might and your power your discipline and your sovereignty regulate your life and overcome it you know what's even more delicious than whatever food you didn't eat the fact that you didn't eat it and you wanted to and you know what when you ate it that deliciousness it lasts very short as soon as you're hungry again you crave it again and it wasn't really satisfying but when you overcame it and you didn't eat it that satisfaction that deliciousness that lasts much longer but we forget that because when we face it and we want it we have an appetite for it that Sahara part of its methodology is to get us to have amnesia it gets us to forget how much more delicious it was to be in control to turn off that screen and not look at it to not eat the food we shouldn't eat to not share the gossip that we should keep to ourselves that's even more delicious she is gaber can you know the Tanya ends parik test with an allusion to the analogy of the zoar the holy zoar what is this analogy of the holy zoar the doesn't spell it out but we will cuz he references it so he wants us to know it so the zoar says that everything that I'm reading to the zoar in translation everything the blessed be everything that has made above and below is all intended for man to manifest his glory and all for his service I how can an evil servant come luring people to an evil path causing to disobey the will of their master you're going to tell me the zoar is for myim you're going to tell me that appetite that impulse to do the wrong thing that's also for good it's doing the will of his master this may be compared to a king who had only one son whom he loved very much he commanded him in love not to approach an evil woman the son agreed lovingly to follow his father's will at the king's home outside was a zona was a harlot a woman of the street the world's oldest profession I don't know how many more ways to tell you how to translate the word zona attractive in appearance these are the words of the zoar not mine a beautiful zona attractive in appearance and beautiful in form some days later the king said I want to test my son's devotion to me he called for the zona he called for this woman of the street and he said to her go and seduce my son to see his son's devotion to him that zona what could she do she went after his son and began seducing him with all kinds of enticements if that son is worthy and obeys his father's command he rebukes her pays no heed to her cast her away then the father rejoices in his son and brings him into his palace giving him gifts and presents in great honor but who caused all the honor for that son who caused that son those gifts that honor to rise to that next level who caused it you must admit writes the zoar it was the zona and that zona does she deserve praise for this or not surely she does from every angle first because she carried out the king's command and second because she brought upon the son all of his honor all this goodness all this love of the king toward him so says the this nefesh bahami this impulse this appetite this Sahara this urge we wish we didn't have it just want to take a shot or a pill and not wake up with it we don't want to have to fight it we wish but then there'd be no purpose to life the king the king has called that appetite in us and said do me a favor test my son test my daughter I want to see their devotion to me I want to see whether they're willing to fight I wanted to see whether they're willing to regulate I want to see how devoted they are. I want to see how strong and powerful they are. I want to see whether they're a gibor and whether they'll be misgaber. I want to see whether they'll have what it takes to do what they need to to fight it. So, don't wish you didn't have it. It's here for us. Embrace it and recognize it's a gift to us. Because when we can overcome that urge, that's growth. That's growth. It's overcoming. What's the metaphor everyone gives about the pearl and the oyster? It's when it's agitated that it develops the pearl. We have real breakthrough and real growth comes when we face tension and conflict. A person works out. This is a group that looks like they're in fine shape and work out regularly. So, you know that how do your muscles grow? Your muscles grow not when you leave them alone. That's when they atrophy and die. It's when the muscle faces tension and undergoes micro tears that when it replenishes, it grows. It grows bigger. Doesn't grow because you sit there still doing nothing. Doesn't sit Doesn't grow because you haven't moved. That's when it atrophies and dies. It's when the muscle faces a tension. That's when it has micro tears that fill in and that grow. So, similarly, when we face that tension, that appetite, that impulse, that thing we wish we didn't have, we wish we wouldn't do, and we wish we weren't, it's when we face it and overcome it that we grow. So, rather than regret it, rather than resent it, rather than try to eliminate it, embrace it. And not my words, they're the words of the Heilige Alter Rebbe. The tova zadom. The thing that you're that you're facing, that we're confronting, that's trying to undermine and sabotage us, it's for our own good. She's gabrala. If life were just smooth sailing and easy, then it wouldn't have meaning and it wouldn't have purpose. If we want to grow and we want meaning and purpose, we want what is a higher satisfaction than even the animal one, it's to express and to nourish and to touch the chelek elokah mimaal mamash, that godly soul inside ourselves. Rav Steinsaltz in his commentary here at the end of perek tet, he writes, "The author does not elaborate in the specific ways that the animal soul endeavors that the body's faculties and garments would serve it alone." We did that the whole first part of the perek was when it came to the godly soul, we elaborated and we enumerated. And now with the animal soul, he just makes this cryptic reference that the desire of the animal soul derived from the klipa is the opposite. What's that desire? Why doesn't the Alter Rebbe elaborate? Says Rav Steinsaltz, "Because we're already all too familiar with these details. There's no duty to teach them." The Alter Rebbe didn't have to get into how the animal soul entices us. What yetzer haras we have. We don't need a club, we don't need a book, we don't need a blog. We're all all too familiar with the animal soul's yetzer haras and its and its methodology. The idea the animal soul desires the exact opposite of the godly soul implies that there's no room here for compromise. A person might arrive at some sort of compromise between two halves, a peaceful coexistence between them. You might try to get the animal soul and the godly soul around a table. You're bringing the vice president, the secretary of state, you'll negotiate a deal. Maybe there's some room, maybe there's a deal to be had. No. Ultimately, both souls want one thing, complete domination. So, inherently, there's no room for compromise. There is no deal to be had. You cannot put them around the table. You cannot come up with a compromise. There is no negotiating between the godly soul and the animal soul cuz they both want complete control. They're fighting over the territory called your guf. Says Rav Steinsaltz, "We emphasize this because a compromise of this sort is one thing that a Yiddishe guy cannot accept. This is one of the reasons why it's so difficult to be a Jew. If all that were required of a Jew would merely be to go to shul, daven, it would be far simpler. But the Jew is also required to leave shul for the outside world. And the real question is, what happens then? It is impossible to make some sort of compromise, cutting life in two, half for holiness and half not, because the spheres of holiness and klipa cannot live alongside each other peacefully. Inevitably, a struggle ensues in which one soul prevails. There is no compromise to be had. There isn't a good negotiation. There is no deal. And therefore, the entire presence of the animal soul in us is to give us the opportunity to be supreme and sovereign over it. It's a gift. Don't resent it. Don't regret it. Don't try to push it out. Embrace it, confront it, overcome it, redirect it, elevate it, transform it, and then it's praiseworthy. That just like this zona, just like this harlot, who deserves the praise because she she, in enticing the prince, is the one who brought him all the glory, all the honor, all the gifts. It's the yetzer hara in us that brings us all that meaning, all that purpose, all that satisfaction, that gives us essentially all that life that we so much that we so much crave. So, we'll pick up next time perek tet, going all the way back to the beginning. If you remember of perek yud, thank you. If you remember all the way back in the beginning, we talked about a tzaddik. We talked about the perfect tzaddik and we talked about the imperfect tzaddik and we talked about the beinoni, we talked about the rasha. What are the differences between them? If the tzaddik never does anything wrong, then what does he mean there's an imperfect tzaddik? If the beinoni also does nothing wrong, then why aren't they a tzaddik? What makes them a beinoni? And who is this rasha? Beginning with perek yud, now the Alter Rebbe is going to, now that we've built the architecture of understanding these different archetypes and personalities, now we could start to apply them and see where we fit in and who we are, halavai, halavai, beinoni. Have a great day and a chag sameach. Al hamishmar Efshei. Efshei.