Transcript
Good morning boker tov, welcome back to 10 Minutes of Meaning, Sefer Tanya, generously sponsored by Marilyn and Michael Fedak. We remain indebted to them. Please help yourself to coffee, slushie, pastries at Reb Shaya'le corner, as we get started with perek yud alef of Sefer Tanya, the 11th chapter of Sefer Tanya. We last left off in the 10th chapter, the Ba'al HaTanya, the Alter Rebbe was teaching us about the difference between the different types of tzadikim. Early in the sefer, we were introduced to five categories of people. All people fit into one of five categories: the complete tzadik, the incomplete tzadik, tzadik ve'tov lo, tzadik ve'ra lo, the Beinoni, halevai Beinoni, which is what we strive for. The tzadik is not chalila, we would never say out of reach, but so lofty and so challenging, so difficult, halevai Beinoni. And then the opposite of those two types of tzadikim, we have the two types of resha'im: the complete rasha and the incomplete rasha, the rasha ve'ra lo, rasha ve'tov lo. And that's where the Alter Rebbe picks up perek yud alef with the concept of the two types of resha'im. Zeh le'umat zeh, referencing a pasuk in Kohelet, Hashem always makes one thing opposite the other. So there's an equilibrium and a balance in the world, there always is one thing opposite the other. It's not tilted or stinted in one direction more than the other. In order to maintain a sense of free will, so that there isn't a bias or there isn't a predisposition, for Hakadosh Baruch Hu to preserve the purpose of creation, which is free will, to make choices in this world. We express our free will by having zeh le'umat zeh, one thing opposite the other, equal opportunities, equal alternatives in front of us. So therefore, the forces of evil, the opportunities of klipa, of Sitra Achra, of indulging the other side, mirror the forces of good, they mirror the yetzer hatov, the pull, the gravitational pull towards the good. So רשע וטוב לו לעומת צדיק ורע לו. The rasha ve'tov lo, this category of individual, someone who is a rasha but tov lo, corresponds with his opposite, the tzadik ve'ra lo. So what did tzadik ve'ra lo mean? We saw the last perek that the incomplete tzadik or the tzadik ve'ra lo means that that individual has overwhelming good. The tzadik, both categories of tzadik externally are doing all the right things. It's important to remember, both categories of tzadik the Alter Rebbe says on the outside doing all the right things, making all the right choices, overcoming the urge to do the wrong thing. The whole description of ra lo or tov lo, complete or incomplete, is reflecting what's happening inside that person. On the outside, the way they measure is all good, a tzadik. But what's happening on the inside? What struggle, what residue of ra, what presence of klipa or Sitra Achra is still there? So we learned in the last perek, the incomplete tzadik or the tzadik ve'ra lo is overwhelmingly good, but there is a negligible, minuscule amount of ra that remains that is overwhelmed by the good. In other words, the tzadik ve'tov lo looks out and sees a world and only sees elokus. Doesn't see in food, in sleep, in anything, in appetite, in urge, doesn't even see a possibility of misusing and abusing it, only ve'tov lo, all they see is good and the invitation and opportunity to connect to Hashem. The tzadik ve'ra lo, the tzadik who makes all the right decisions but ra lo still has ra, says I'm gonna overcome the urge, I overcome the instinct, I make the right decision, I do the right thing, but ra lo there's still a shtickel, a bissel, there's still a little bit, some residue of ra. So the rasha ve'tov lo is the opposite. The rasha, the incomplete rasha is the conceptual opposite of the tzadik ve'ra lo. Dehainu, says the Alter Rebbe, שהטוב שבנפשו האלוקית שבמוחו ובחלל הימני שבליבו. In the incomplete rasha, the good in their divine soul, the nefesh elokit, found both in the brain and the right chamber of the heart. Right? The Alter Rebbe described to us the right chamber, the left chamber, where's good, where's evil, and we discussed, was the Rebbe giving us an anatomy lesson? Did he mean it literally, anatomically, or did he mean the head versus the heart, which one initiates and which one controls the other? כפוף ובטל לגבי הרע מהקליפה שבחלל השמאלי is at least to some extent suppressed and voided by the evil in the left chamber of the heart, which comes from klipa. So just as the status of incomplete tzadik is subdivided into many categories, when we talk about the incomplete tzadik who ra lo has some ra, it doesn't mean that it's all universal, the same amount. Different people have different amounts of ra lo. What's your background? What's your history? What's your struggle? What's your makeup? What's your internal family system? What's happening in your life, in your world will determine the level of ra that the tzadik vera lo is facing and similarly the rasha vetov lo it depends ומתחלק גם כן לרבבות מדרגות חלוקות. The incomplete rasha is subdivided into tens of thousands of different levels. They don't all look the same. The tzadik on the outside is doing all the right things, it's what's happening inside. The rasha on the other hand is doing all the wrong things on the outside, we're not talking about the outside we're talking about the inside. יש מי שהכפיפה וביטול שלו מעט מזער. So for example at one extreme there's the person whose good is suppressed and voided by his evil to a minuscule extent. ואף גם זאת אינה בתמידות ותדיר רק לפרקים קרובים. And even then it might not be a permanent state or even a common one. It doesn't happen all the time and it doesn't happen at frequent intervals אלא לעיתים רחוקים מתגבר הרע על הטוב. But only on rare occasions the ra is misgaber on the tov וכובש את העיר הקטנה הוא הגוף. So two prakim ago the Alter Rebbe described that our body is like a territory that there's a battle over. Which ruler will conquer? Whose rules, which ruler, which laws? The body is like this territory and there's a battle going on. Which God, which soul? The Godly soul, the animal soul? Who's going to be the ruler? Who's going to conquer the territory? Who's going to set the laws? Who's going to dictate? So in this war on this ir ktana on this small city that is the guf that there's a battle taking place over. So only on rare occasions will the ra in him overwhelm the good, conquering his body the small city אך לא כולו אלא מקצתו לבד and even then his evil may not conquer all of his body but only part of it sheye'asseir lemish'ma'aso which will obey the whim of evil. So the rasha vetov lo he's a rasha but he still has tov, he still has tov. There is a presence of good. He sees the possibility of connecting to Hashem. He sees elokus instead of ego. He's a rasha on the outside, he keeps indulging, keeps failing, keeps coming up short, keeps making mistakes but vetov lo in that internal world which matters to a huge, huge emphasis and focus of Tanya is that and these prakim that we're learning right now in particular is that our internal world it matters enormously. There's the external world of our action and ultimately that's the expectation of Hashem. In the Talmud Yerushalmi the Rebbe doesn't reference this, Talmud Yerushalmi says that given the choice between the two Hashem says I'd rather you deny my existence but obey my laws. So the Yerushalmi Chagiga Hashem says I'd rather you question and doubt whether I exist but you do what I ask because by doing what we ask we'll come to remember and recognize and realize and live that He exists. But as much as we say what matters is the expectations, the outer world, the mitzvos, the system of halacha it's what counts, it's the expectation He has of us. Don't do it at the expense, don't neglect or dismiss the critical importance of the inner world. These tzadikim on the outside they all look exactly the same but the tzadik vera lo, tzadik vetov lo it's their inner world that differentiates them. The two rasha'im, rasha vetov lo, rasha vera lo on the outside look exactly the same, it's the internal world that defines them. And even the beinoni. The beinoni we began the sefer learning, the beinoni also like the tzadik is making all the right decisions and therefore you can't help but wonder and be bothered what's the difference between the two types of tzadikim and the beinoni? All three of these categories seem to be the same but they're not. What differentiates them is that internal world. Hevra, be aware of your internal world. Be in conversation with your internal world. Know your different parts and speak to your different parts and regulate and be in control and be in conversation and listen to what your different parts are saying. It's not just about doing the right thing on the outside, it's about the conversation happening on the inside, our internal world. What an area and arena of life that we so often neglect. Our whole yeshiva system focuses on bein adam lamakom and bein adam lechavero. We talk about our relationship with Hashem through tefilla and through talmud Torah through the observance of mitzvos, that's our relationship with Hashem. And then we focus on bein adam lechavero, have good middos, treat others nicely, practice ahavas Yisrael. But what about bein adam le'atzmo? What about our relationship with ourselves? The conversations we're having with ourselves, the internal voice. Are we listening? Are we in conversation? Are we regulating? Are we focused? That's what the Alter Rebbe's focused on here in Tanya. On the outside two types of tzadikim and the beinoni all look the same, their in. The incomplete Rasha may be overcome by his evil only rarely to a minimal extent, but at that moment when that Rasha indulges that evil voice even if it's only occasionally, infrequently, at rare intervals, but in that moment he becomes a vehicle and a garment for evil which become dressed in one of the animal soul's three garments. What are the, by now we you should know, what are the three garments of the animal soul? Speech, thought, and action, which was a big Chiddush. We understood that speech and action were garments of the soul, but until the Rebbe, Alter Rebbe introduced it I would have thought that thought is not one of the garments of the soul; it's part of the inner world, not the outer world. But amazingly the Alter Rebbe says thought also is a garment of the soul; thought is part of the outer world. It's not the core and essential part of who we are, it's sort of superimposed on it and therefore it's one of the garments of the godly soul, it's one of the garments of the covering that comes from the world of the animal soul. So when a person indulges, makes a mistake, when a person thinks the wrong thought or says the wrong thing or does the wrong thing even if it's infrequent, even if it's occasional, even if it's rare, it doesn't matter. It is indulging that animal soul and therefore in that moment it becomes a vehicle and garment of evil, a vehicle and garment of evil. Now it's a very high standard. In Perek Aleph of Tanya the Alter Rebbe demonstrated that a person's called a Rasha not, you know, the way we think of a Rasha. A Rasha has a pattern, a Rasha habitually makes mistakes, a Rasha has that lifestyle. The Alter Rebbe in Perek Aleph: the Rasha is the person who on one thing, one time, a minor mistake, even d'rabbanan, not an issur d'oraisa, not an issur kareis, not something severe or intense, but even something that we would call relatively minor, even violating a din d'rabbanan can label somebody, earn the title of a Rasha, of a Rasha. So he gives some examples; we'll end with this. דהיינו או במעשה לבד לעשות עבירות קלות. So this person might be a Rasha, might be infrequent, the Rasha ve-tov lo. The tov is lo. They have a lot of good, a lot of tov, a lot of positive, a lot of Elokus, but they've made a mistake, they've made mistakes, they've indulged ego instead of Elokus in the realm of action. ולא חמורות חס ושלום. We're not talking about severe actions; even seemingly relatively what one might call minor is enough to render a person a Rasha. או בדיבור לבד דדבר אבק לשון הרע וליצנות כהאי גוונא or in the realm of speech even to speak not only outright Lashon Hara, borderline Lashon Hara or borderline Leitzanus, mockery, not the Rasha who's ripping and cynical and gossiping and slanderous but even the one who relatively minor. או במחשבה הרהור עבירה קשה מעבירה or in the world of thought, a person fantasizes and dwells and thinks about committing something which the Gemorah in Yoma tells us that הרהורי עבירה קשה מעבירה, that even the thought and the fantasy of an aveirah is worse than the actual action, which is an amazing statement. Can you imagine how powerful that statement: to think to do the wrong thing is worse than? What do you mean, how could that be worse than doing the wrong thing? The thoughts are considered worse, Maharal explains in Nesivos Olam, Rav Chaim Volozhiner brings down, because they contaminate a person's highest faculty, the mind. When your body gives in to the urge, so the guf, the body, is weak but the mind is our highest faculty. The mind is where we come closest to Hashem. And when we allow and indulge and give the mind license to dwell in the world of fantasy, when we let we've contaminated the mind. And the mind, Chachmah, Binah, and Daas, the mind is where we come closest to Hashem. וגם אם אינו מהרהר בעבירה לעשות אלא בענין זיווג זכר ונקבה בעולם or even when a person does not contemplate committing an actual sin but merely fantasizes about male and female in a way they shouldn't. שעובר על אזהרת תורה ונשמרת מכל דבר רע שלא יהרהר ביום. And a person who fantasizes that way during the day the Gemorah Kesubos says then ultimately that will lead to a transgression at night. And then the Alter Rebbe goes on with further examples of transgressions which are hard to avoid even a pious person like failing to study Torah at every opportunity. Again a very high standard but, and this is very hard to live up to, one earns the label Rasha even minor, infrequent, relatively seemingly small, the wrong thought and that's a Rasha. That's why halevai beinoni. In that moment, in that moment, you could come back. That's why we say halevai beinoni, halevai beinoni. So we'll continue Perek Yud Aleph, these definitions, descriptions, but what I want to get across to you is the importance of being aware of and being in conversation with, both speaking to and listening to our parts and our inner voices and our inner world, that is everything about our avodas Hashem. im yirtzeh Hashem we'll pick up from there.
