Tanya Kuntres Acharon #1c- 4 Relationships: Essential, intellectual, emotional & practical - RCD

So we're learning a we're still in the first essay. It's the last section, the fifth section of Tanya. In these essays, the alterba seeks to clarify various points that he made in the first section of Tanya known called lut amore. And the reconciliation that he seeks to do here is more on the cabalistic end. Meaning he he he made certain statements where he himself says how do I reconcile that with statements in the zor in the pri. So he began over here with what he said in chapter 40 of Tanya. In chapter 40 of Tanya, which is kind of the culmination of five chapters, 35, 36, 37, 3, 8, 39, six chapters, 40. Those chapters are dedicated to the importance of kavana focused intent and the importance of developing a love an ava and a y and a all for hashem in your ding and your learning and in all of in all of your behavior and mitzvah. The bulk of it is dedicated to to mess, right? What we say the the the on the cover page of the title page of says that this book is based on the for this thing is near you is close to you very close to you very close to you in your mouth in your heart so to do and to do. So as he develops this thought in his Tanya we we recognize that the isser the is action and that's why chapters 36 35 36 and 37 he dedicates he brings this the the the story in the zor with the yanuka with the she and the and the and the oil and he says the main thing is the burning of the oil and to that the wick should be lit. which in in the moral is the idea of the misa action action talks loudest. So although although that's true then in chapters uh 38 39 and 40 those three chapters he says I have to I have to make you aware reader and student of Tanya that don't think that love and fear isn't necessary and it's some small change and in fact it's it's it's a lot of change it's a hard avoid and in a way it's much harder than action because action You can do beereft the feelings. Put your tillin on the morning. You do know what you're saying. You don't know what you're saying. You were told this the way put on tillin. You learned how to put on the tin. You put on tin. You don't understand what the trill are about. You don't know the laws. You don't know what the gar says. You don't know. You just put the fillin on. And as we know from from putting on trillin with others and ourselves, you meet someone, you offer him to put on fillin. You don't give them a whole Russia about fillin. because by the time you give him the dr the guy will be half a block away. So you just put the on with them. Nevertheless, says a ye who's looking to to be a servant of Hashem and to develop their their their closeness to God should seek also having a feeling an ava a ya. It shouldn't just be a dry action. And alba said quoting the zadesh in chapter 40 that a mitzvah when you do a mitzvah a commandment without focused intent is like a bird without its wings. Can a bird exist without wings? The answer is yes. Can it soar and fly? Absolutely not. It needs wings. So the zod says that a mitzvah is like a bird without wings and that mitzvah is not soaring on high. You got the mitzvah, it's lock, stock and barrel in your uh portfolio. Okay? But you still won't reap the benefits of that stock, right? Because it's not inspired. Y it's not inspirational. It's it's action. It's it's boring. It's it's un unspiritual. It's un motivated. So the alterba says if this is the case, I have a few questions. I'm himself. This is what he's doing here in the essay. The first essay one is he says what about when you read stories in the narratives in the all the narratives that we have it says in in in in that it causes what we call a with superal wisdom says really reading a story does it reading a story is a story when you study tazria mats last week's paras and you know the details. So there's intellectualism there. So the intellectualism connects to the law to Hashem's superal wisdom is superal wisdom. You're using your intellect. It makes sense. There's a relationship. But how is there a relationship between a narrative, a story and that was one question. The second question that he had is that he had that. So, so he one second. So, he answers the question. He says, "You're right. You yourself don't have it through reading narratives. But your source something called the word was the yukn your your image like your image like in heaven meaning your source of your it understands the deeper matters of the narratives of the stories. So because it's your chesh it's your source it's the source of your soul. So although you intellectually don't understand the depth in the narratives in the stories but your likeness image your source of the nama does and therefore you credited with a connection to to that the alterba asked on his own response that doesn't make sense. I mean that's that's not you that's your source. Thank you very much. We all know we have a great source. We have a high nish. We have a great nisha. But what about our goof, our body, our mind, our heart? If we don't have the understanding then seemingly we don't have anything. So to this the alterb started to explain that the the statement made in the in in the um in the tikunim the zaw that that there is there there there is a connection and only only through dour I'm sorry through through dou through speech when you speak Torah and not just thought in other words he brings this idea A that when you articulate with your lips the words of Torah including the narratives that itself pierces the heavens. This is where we're at now. In piercing the heavens h which heavens are you piercing? So the speaks about four different heavens atus bria and aa known as the four worlds. The world of Atsilos the in its pure state is close to God. Atilos from the comes from the word etsoy. It's near and close to God. When you when you when you say the the written word and not just the the um the thought, you pierce the world of Atilus. And that's where we're at. Now look at page 264. those that have the lessons in Tanya, those that don't, it's a middle, it's towards the beginning of the first essay. So he says speech we may say and I explained to you at length and if you didn't hear it cuz you weren't by the class, you should listen to the the class. This is the only place in Tanya you'll find that he says yes means we possibly could say you will not find that in the first four sections of Tanya when the alterba writes and speaks in Tanya he's sure of what he's saying he's the writer he's the author here he employs yes as though he doesn't know and maybe so you know everyone can take it the way they want but I explained that this comes from his humility from didn't know I mean was immersed in kabala and he was a so I mean he didn't know and if he didn't know these things then how does he know what he how can he say what sure he thinks that he says in the first four sections of you can al you can also say about that maybe and yet he doesn't use the word maybe yesar in the first four sections and here he does so we explained this at at the last class. I don't want to go over it, but he just I just want to point it out to you. What does he say? He says that when you you articulate the words of it pierces mameish. So the alter So the question is what does the alter have? What does he mean with the word mameish? It pierces. What do you mean it pierces mameish? So the note here it says explains the actual world of and the highest level within each of the lower worlds is explained above the uttered words of a consumate sadic like the rest of the Torah of his Torah mitzvah ascend to the actual world of in other words right we know like we're saying spir now right what was last Right. is not is not it's a component within the iss but somehow there's a format of which is and there's a format of of which is ferris etc etc and last night was whatever that is I'm not going into it now right so the same thing withilus. There's within Bria, there's within and there's within. So the alterb says that's not what I mean here. I mean mish you hear that when you articulate the words of your piercing the world ofos as the uh gender orientation the primary orientation i.e. not within or that's where he comes to exclude. Then he says or your words only permeate pierce the world of Bria with what we call intellectual comprehension of love and fear. Now what it means here is we learned this already in chapters 39 and also 16. Depending and how much your mind comprehends of the subject matter in that is the result that will be. So if for example you understand with your mind that so so and so makes sense and therefore I should be attracted to it i.e. have love for it. Ava or Moshe, I understand how it's awesome and therefore I should be fearful of it, distant of it because it's just overwhelming and I should have reverence. Those are what we call their love and fear as notions within the intellect. They're not palpable love and fears of the heart. And what does that and what does that generate? That generates an intellectual love and fear. Not a practical love and fear. And not even an emotional love and fear. We have three stages. An intellectual love and fear. An emotional love and fear and a practical love and fear. And by the way, this is so relevant for us in our relationships, whether it be with our spouses or children or for family and people. And you see sometimes that you're attracted to someone, but it's all up here. It's in the cup. And then when kind of one seeks to go to the heart, there's a breakdown. Sometimes it's in the heart when it comes to practicality to say, "Well, you marry me and I will marry you and I'm going to stand under under the hoopa with you." No way, Jose. Like we all know the famous the saying that we hear and maybe we experienced at times with different relationships. You're a good person and I like you as a friend, but I ain't marrying you. Why? Why? If they're a good friend, why don't you marry them? Because bottom line, I I'm not on that level. I don't feel it. I don't I I'm sorry. I think it'll be a disaster if we marry. But you But you're saying you're a good friend. Yes. As a friend, we're good friends. As spouses, it'll be a disaster. Platonic relationship. What' you say? Platonic relationships. At sometimes it's platonic relationships, but sometimes yi it's it's a correct it's correct. It's not correct to keep up you know uh you know uh that type of a lifestyle of course but I'm saying let's not talk about in marriage. Let's talk about this idea in uh in friends because I I I've gone through this. I would think you know everyone you grow up with certain friends. You go to college with them. You go to yeshiva with them and you get you're close to them. Years go by and it dwindles and you might want to be close and you express that and they give you the cold shoulder. What happened over here? We were best buddies in college. We were best buddies in yeshiva. What happened over here? And the answer is that the aa and the ya, the love and and the awe and the relationship feelings and all that only went so far. So here you have the same idea in Kabala and I show you again very important for you learnus how everything in but asidus explains it is so practical is so real you just you need to have the methodology and then you can point to it and this is something Dr. is saying right here there is the the the the experience there is the briad aa and what's bria bria is exilo creation so it's the it's a bond it's a creation but it's only a beginning in other words it's up here up here is only a beginning the next step is here in the heart. It's still not the ultimate. It's more than up here. It's already in your heart. But we also have fatuations. Infatuations. It's in the heart. And it could be totally wrong. Right. Totally wrong. You people are meeting people on the internet this and that and they're inviting them to home. What are you out of your mind? people can can can can fake their ideas and and they can rob you or god forbid rape you or I mean like what are you doing right we're living at a time where these things are very real these aren't just uh you know figment of my my imagination buba mices so in other words the feelings that you develop aren't yet real you know when it's real when you stand on When you stand under the Ka and you're together in a house and that's why the laws of are so important there it's real and you could understand how you this relationship is good. You could even feel relationship is good but when it comes to standing under the ha you're not ready to do that because something just is not right. So these ideas are encapsulated in what the alterb is saying here. Although he doesn't use the words that I'm explaining now. So let's go back to the text or when you learn your words pierce only the word of only the world of creation with intellectual love and fear or next page 265 in the lessons in Tanya version it only permeates the world of creation a formation I'm sorry. The world of formation. And what is that? Lookiv not intellectual love and fear but natural love and fear which is lower than the love and and fear that's intellectualized is intellectualized. you can you can rationally explain the feelings. Then there's this this lower like I can't explain it to you rationally but I I I have this natural feeling. Then he goes on to say when you not when you study kabah but when you study the Torah so at that time you just utter the words that's the acceptance of the yoke called so this speech rises from the to the 10 spheres of that relates to Torah mitz that are performed merely out of acceptance of God's yoke for it pierces the atmosphere between physical and spiritual okay this is all true when you articulate the words with your mouth And conversely, if you only think about it, it doesn't happen. It doesn't ascend to the higher worlds. Thinking, I don't care what Torah it is. It's very important and very good, but it doesn't ascend. only the likeness which is the source of the soul and which at the time is also engaged in Torah thereby connecting him with spiritual wisdom. So that's the answer. Listen to this. I'm summing it up. When you don't articulate but you use your mind to think Torah, you connect to what's called the likeness, the image. And the image which is the source of your soul is connected to wisdom. But you yourself remain untouched. That's what he says. That's when you think. But when you speak, one second. When you speak, you make a Torah depending on how it comes out. As we said, these four different ways, it touches four different levels. Yes. Yi. What is is that the reason? I mean, is that the reason why in the emphasis making out loud and and and doing like you know and all that out loud everyone does that like it's more okay f first of all y just for the record lab does not sh say before mitzvah except once a day before you should just know that we and we don't even say it right by is not to say yehood. Everyone else says why you are making a you are making a a a unity because we rely on the on the yehood that we said in the morning before Sh. So the that we do once a day in the morning before barak sh and chakras it goes for all the rest of the day including all the rest of the mitzvah. Others feel it should be said by other mitzvah. Now to answer your question, is that the reason we say it out loud? No, we say it out loud because it's important to articulate. It's and it has nothing to do with it has to do with um going to and and I I listen many people they they they say their braas out loud whether I'm not even talking about the is a shak but they'll make a on a cup of coffee or tea or water for other people to answer a man. So, so it has nothing to do with with lab has nothing to do with um with what we're learning here. Here we're talking about learning Tyra. We're not talking about brahus talking about the study of Tyra. You know when when you read a how are you educated in school and in college you don't you read out with your lips you read like this silence her right and and with it says you shall speak the words the actual words should be articulated so the alterba says that this concept makes a difference as far as your Torah piercing Piercing the heavens and to which degree in the heaven or not piercing the heavens where you yourself are stuck in a rut and your source connects very nice what do I have for my source I have a holy source it's like hey I had a holy grandfather and who am I a big zero thank you very much like okay you know you can you can put on your resume my grandfather and great-grandfather was this Jew this man and what are you? Like I told you the story, I'm Shika Fifer. I'm Shia the whistleblower. I don't know anything. I just can blow a whistle. So there's, you know, and if you're whistle, if you're blowing the Reb's whistle, the Sadic's whistle, and that's who you are, it's a different story. But the point being that that it takes an articulation of the words to create a connection with one of these four levels. Now asks another question that thinking achieves nothing even a beneficial act. So speaking of thought desire there refers to improper thoughts. If a person has improper thoughts, you hear this buyers improper thoughts do is it a problem or not? Desire says it achieves nothing. For it is only when one actually speaks and not merely thinks of mundane matters on Shabbat on Shabas that he causes a blemish in the spiritual realms since his speech ascends a loft and introduces modernity within the sanctity of shabas above. In the same way adds thought alone unless it is accomp accompanied by words or deeds has no positive effect above. Right? The Z says this about thinking uh by the way doesn't mean inappropriate sexual thoughts. We're talking about just mundane thoughts of Shabas you know how's my car I have to fix my car tomorrow. Are you allowed to think about an ashabas? you're it's not an says you're not allowed to speak it. That's what the Zora says. So dba says if this is true in the negative that an in a wrong thought that the shabas is not considered a violation surely surely um a a thought that is not negative would have no impact over there for the z says there that in order to receive the sanctity and joy of the Jewish festivals There must first be an arousal from below through deed or speech. If then if it then goes on to say that mundane talk during shabas will cause a blemish above though not mundane thoughts. We thus see from the zy we see that the zy is speaking of the inability of thought alone to produce either positive or negative effects. Same is true of the statements in the zy that a deed below inspires a deed above. A holy deed brings forth as an arousal of holiness from above that descends upon the doer. While a deed stemming from impurity causes a spirit of impurity to descend upon him. Desire concludes there that whatever that that whatever depends upon action affects action while whatever depends upon speech affect speech. Thus too indicates that both a positive and a negative impact can be made only through action or speech and not through disembodi disembodied thought alone. Now if thought alone accomplishes nothing as the zora says, how does this square with the earlier statement that when one reads the narratives of the Torah, even if he does so only in his thought, he causes the likeness of superernal man to study Torah and thereby the person involved is united with superal wisdom. That's his question and alter resolves the seeming contradiction as follows. Desire only means that thought has no effect in drawing down illumination from above. It is true that is not an arousal from below that elicits an arousal from above. However, thought does have a vital effect above. One's thoughts and intentions are indispensable in elevating one's Torah study and performance of the commandments and infecting the consequence superal. I will explain this tomorrow at greater length. Everyone have a great day and we'll see everyone tomorrow. Shalom. Bye.