When Good Intentions DON'T Matter | Ten Minutes of Meaning | Tanya #36

Good morning bookers. Welcome back to 10 minutes of a meaning. I want to thank our generous sponsors Marilyn and Michael Fedak for their generous sponsorship with 10 minutes of meaning our learning of Tanya. Please help yourself cafe to coffee, slushies or pastries and the like. We have the privilege this week of of beginning per the eighth chapter of the Hatana. It's been helping us learn about ourselves. Tanya is like a great spiritual MRI machine. We go through it and we're learning and discovering and we're seeing parts of ourselves, many that look wonderful and healthy and others that need a little bit of work and improvement. But it is the mirror we hold up to ourselves, the MRI machine that reveals ourselves that Tanya has helped us discover how to be our best selves and we're up to paras. I just want to mention we are in the middle of our beer global campaign. We're asking all those who listen, learn, watch, read, benefit, who gain value from Bocarone Synagogue to please help us, help us spread Torah, help us spread Tanya, help us spread light. And you can enter a raffle to come spend chabas here at BS. All expenses covered. Bonline.org/global bonline.org/global. Please match what you did last year. We know who you are. We know what you did last year and we're watching. And so is the alterbos in the last chapter. We last left off and we distinguish between the three clipos, the three husks or peels or shells, the three total eclipse of the light of the from which there is nothing redeemable, entirely and utterly negative. There's nothing valuable or redeemable. caught up in the world of what we call is the balan is the word and mut is and means tied up and bound or untied and released. Why does forbidden mean tied and bound? Why does permissible mean untied and released? Because that which is forbidden is tied to the world of sitra. It is tied it is bound together with it. And that which is permissible is untied. It is released. It is free. So the three kipos are entirely categorically negative. The fourth kipa kipos noa has a partial eclipse. The light does shine through. There is something redeemable. That's the area of the animal soul where it all depends on intent. It all depends on intent. Technically the eating, the sleeping, the tulle, whatever we're doing or whatever we're on technically is permissible. What's the concentration? What's the intent? And here the alterba now moves over from the intent we give to a kosher experience to the intent we give to a non-coosher experience. Does care about your feelings? If I had to give a title to per I would give the following. You know there's a kishita spoke here this past shabas. He said there's a holy Jew here in Florida who made popular the expression that facts don't care about your feelings and there's a truth to that. He said, but then this last week's para that feelings don't care about the facts. Sometimes your feelings don't care about the facts. The Torah validates and acknowledges feelings. So where does the alterba fall on this? Facts don't care about your feelings or feelings don't care about your facts. I don't think anyone who's ever taught Tanya put it that way before. Which one? Which one? I'm only doing that because opened their eyes to that dichotomy to those two perspectives. So the says doesn't care about your feelings. The facts are objective. They're not subjective. And all the greatest intention in the world, all the holiest and highest intention in the world doesn't change, can't elevate, can't transform, can't untie that which is bound to the world of there's a reason why non-cosher food is called Iser. You inadvertently eat a forbidden food and you do it. So a person eats a forbidden food and they say I'm eating this food to have the energy to to sit to learn. I'm eating this food to have the energy to go do. I'm eating this food to be the best husband, the best father, the best wife, the best mother. My intent, my feeling is I want to be the best servant, the best ever hashem. And this food is going to nourish. This food is going to strengthen. This food is going to give me what I need. So my holy intention is going to transform even that which is this forbidden food. Paul not only was that the initial plan but the person executed. They fulfilled the intent. They used the food for energy and study. And so a person eats something forbidden. They eat something that's asser. It was a questionable hashkah. And they said, "You know what? It's close enough. There's some Hebrew writing on it. It sounds like a rabbi's name. It's good enough. It's got some shapes. There's a K with some shape around it. That's good enough." And then they eat it because it was good enough. Turns out it's not kosher. And as they ate it, they ate it as they prepared the daffy, the yummy, the tanak, the raamy, the bury. They prepared they were going to say, they prepared they were going to go volunteer their time at the chef kitchen. Whatever the reason they were eating, they actually executed. They ate with a high level intention and they used the food and energy for study of Torah and you can't do it. Doesn't work. Even the greatest and the highest and the holiest intentions cannot transform or untie that which is tied and bound to the to the world of Isra. Because the reason it's called, the reason non-coosher food, the reason, the reason dishonest business practices, the reasonab called user is because it is definitionally chained and tied to the to the negative forces of sitra to the three kipos to the total eclipse of the yor of shalom and the greatest and the holiest and the highest intentions in the can't untie it and it's good. The lishma is still good. Better than doing an aal. Better than doing a shim, but it's still an a and the fact that it's trafe doesn't care about your feeling that you're using it for holiness that you're using it for holiness. And this the pas like the holy jewe of Florida our neighbor that the doesn't care about your feelings. If you're doing is chained, it's tied. It's bound to sit. You can have the holiest and the highest intentions. That's certainly true for Torah law. When said don't do this, don't do this. It's it is tied to the dark side to the other side to the side that is nothing inherent good or no light. It's a total eclipse. But the that also and even applies he makes a bold assertion that the energy of food that's prohibited by rabbitic law. For example, We're learning now in chicken casserole. If you melt cheese with chicken, that's also it's technically it's not it's so a person sits down and they want to eat a delicious plate of chicken casserole. Is chicken casserole? I don't know how you make chicken casserole. Okay. A milk like a chicken casserole. >> Chicken parmesan. >> Chicken parmesan. Thank you. That's what I was looking for. So a person sits down and they say epis chicken parmesan either I'm not in this town whatever I'm going to eat some chicken parmesan it's just but this chicken parmesan do you know the kind of I'm going to have after the chicken parmesan do you know the kind of singing I'm going to do I'm going to fabang I'm going to tish it's going to be with the it's going to be unbelievable do you know the kind of I'm going to offer the I'm going to say the says even if it's only there's nothing redeemable in it it's part of it's part of the world of it is bound and tied to the dark side. It's part of the world of Torah and the here anticipates you're going to push back and say what do you mean dark side the other side that's Hashem so that should only apply to dice that should only apply to biblical law when it comes to rabbitical law what the rabbis said is prohibit what the rabbis drew a a fence around that shouldn't be that shouldn't now the says no it's even more It's even greater. It's even bigger. It's even bigger. So I want to read to you the commentary of he says and bound and unbound are not subjective concepts. They do not relate to the person nor does the person define them by his knowledge and awareness. A person's knowledge or ignorance does not alter the basic definition of a thing as is. A positive intention such as the intent for the sake of heaven for a holy purpose does not prevent something forbidden from being forbidden. The nature of the forbidden thing is not altered by the intent because the prohibition is objective relating to the composition, nature and characteristic of the thing itself and not to what somebody happens to think about it. This is so important and relevant to our time where we think that we are whatever we think we are. I can choose my own identity and I can choose the identity even of the object. I choose my identity and I determine the identity of the object. Is it permissible or forbidden? It depends how I use it. No, it doesn't. It depends how the master of the universe, the creator, what he endowed and imbued it with. It is objective, not subjective. It is absolute, not relative. It is inherent. It is not something that I bestow. This conception of good and evil rejects the emotional and subjective view many have of these definitions. The outlook by which everything is assessed according to a person's intentions. This view does not recognize the concept of an act that is intrinsically evil, but it does recognize personal sins, acts that derive from the intention to do evil. The act itself, the reality of it being done or not is devoid of significance. The concept of isra is defined here as not a factor of the person's conscious desire to transgress but of the fact that he did so even unintentionally. An evil intention deliberate rebellion against God is a sin in its own right but it does not in any way define what is the realm of the forbidden. This is not says this is not to diminish the significance of intent. Theba has at length in chapter seven we just studied about how when it comes to kipas noa it is all about the kavana when it comes to the middle area what you callus permissible things they're untied they're unbound they're not inherently or absolutely or objectively bound and tied to the dark side but they're still subject to your intent we elevate we transform by intent intent matters intent counts intent is important however However, intent can't change that which is objectively bad. If you're eating poison, you're eating poison for the right reasons. So you instead of eating a protein shake, you drink a poison shake and you're treating your protein your poison shake like a pro. I'm going to be healthy. I'm going to be strong. It's like a protein shake. But does the poison care about your intent? Does the poison care about your feelings? If there's poison in the shake, you're gonna feel it. If there's poison in the shake, it's going to compromise you and it doesn't care about your feelings or your intention. It is objectively poison. And that's what the is telling us about the world of Iser. It is bound and tied to the other and the dark side. And therefore, it has that impact and it has that consequence. So now that we've established that both and activities that are empowered by the three kos that are is that are bound to the dark side. So why is an animal soul from kipas noa drawn to these impure kipas which are more corrupt than their own energy again kipas noa can go both ways right so you have mitzvah a mitzvah is inherently good and it's an act by the way that also to a degree doesn't care about your intentions it's elevated when you have the proper intentions when you do the mitzvah understanding it and it having good feelings about it of course it's enormously elevated but if you do the mitzvah and you didn't you still fulfilled the mitzvah Because the mitzvah also to a degree at its baseline doesn't care about your feelings. So mitzvah is positively categorically good and is categorically bad. Doesn't care about your feelings. And the place where intent and feelings matter is the world of no is the world of this partial eclipse where the orient can get through and now our intent determines it. And that desire we have that desire we have that does not originate from the animal soul but it comes from an external source. Where does it come from the thing that says do that says look at that say that think that do that where does it come from? says the shade. This is based on a z. It comes from one of the foreign demons. It has the energy of the of the wicked nations of the world whose souls are from the three kipos. Okay, let's unpack that for a minute. What does that mean? The is racist and biased. We're speaking so negatively about the are made up of demons from the dark side. Some some certainly not all maybe not and and not most. So what does he mean? He means inside us there's the element of our soul that we share with all of humanity. And in that comes the impulse, the desire, the temptation, the lust that comes from the three kipos. We have a sh in addition this is the alterb's view we've given in the past others like the alterba and others hold the Jew has an inherently superior soul we have a uniquely distinctly Jewish soul others say no our soul is the same as all of humanity we're obligated in mitzvos and that changes us but our soul is not inherently superior or or different so of course we're staying with the alterb here who holds that a yid a Jew has a superior soul or an additional soul different or higher than the so the soul in us has this instinct this impulse but we have a yiddish in that gives us the capacity to regulate it to be sovereign over it your temptation to sin writes Miller comes from an external negative energy which the zora refers to as a demon only an energy from the three kipos this foreign demon can tempt you to a forbidden activity which is powered by the three impure kipos eating that food which is user. Looking at that image which is user, sharing that gossip which is user, cheating in business which is user is not coming from inside you the best place of you the godly soul of you. There is this external influence. You're taken over by a demon. Your animal soul from kipos noa is naturally drawn only to the permitted kipas noa activity. So the kipas noa that fourth area only draws us to the permitted. And now the question is do we give it the right intention or not? But the forbidden comes from this outside external influence of the shade of this demon. And it comes from the world of the three kipos, the dark side, the sitra. And you see this because when we indulge in that impulse and we feel that guilt and that shame, when we make that mistake and we do that wrong thing essentially said this that every time we make that mistake and we indulge that impulse, we've been taken over by a demon. And that sounds pretty harsh and pretty radical. And it's also pretty real and pretty true. And you know it because you see it. How many great people how many great people have thrown away their entire lives and reputations? They've fallen for a moment of pleasure. And the only explanation how a rational, thoughtful, intelligent, successful person could throw it all away for a moment of the pleasure of the flesh. The only explanation could be they were taken over by a demon. They were taken over by some external force. On the other hand, the and the desire to satisfy yourself with kosher pleasures comes from the zor calls one of the Jewish demons. We're talking about the when we have a because when it comes to so when we eat a permissible food but we don't do it for the right reason we indulge in that comes from the because that can still be repaired that can still be redeemed that can still be fixed before it reverts to holiness even this kosher act is still negative and it's powered by the sitra and kipa and when the goes from here we'll pick up next time is how when you make that mistake and you indulge how do you repair and it depends in the world of action the world of speech and the world of thought will be repaired by three things and what he says I'll give you a little preview for next week what he says is if you eat the wrong thing so a moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips they used to say well the moment of the wrong thing on the lips a lifetime on the hips means it's absorbed into your body the only way that the darkness of the dark side that you absorbed into your body can be purged and fixed is what's called is the suffering of the body while it is disintegrating in the grave. So when the body goes through that process, it is purging and ridding itself of whatever it absorbed in the pleasures it never should have had during the lifetime. This is some pretty powerful stuff. So definitely come back next week as we continue Tanya together. If you've not yet, please baseline.orgglobal org/global. Please help us continue to spread the light of the or sof together.