Transcript
Good morning, *Boker Tov*. Welcome back to 10 Minutes of Meaning, *Sefer Tanya* with tremendous gratitude to Marilyn and Michael Feidak for their generous sponsorship. Please help yourself to coffee, slushies, soup, pastry, in our *Reb Shayala* corner, and grab your Tanya as we make our way through *Perek Hey*. We are in the fifth *perek* of Tanya. Until now we have been learning about Tanya, the fifth *perek* is talking about how the highest level of *yichud*, the greatest level of connection we can make with the Almighty is through the study of Torah. The Torah is holy, *Torah Kedosha*, the *Torah* of *Moshe*. It is through Torah. *Mitzvos* are an amazing connection, but *mitzvos* we remain separate and apart. But when we learn Torah, when we surrender our mind, our intellect, when we are exposing ourselves to Torah, when we're learning Torah, הוא יחוד נפלא שאין יחוד כמוהו. It is a phenomenal merging experience of two beings. There is no *yichud*, there is no integration or merging in the world like it. *Mitzvos* are marvelous, but learning Torah, oh, Torah is the best *zach*. There is nothing greater, there is nothing better, there's nothing holier or higher than the experience of learning Torah. And the *Baal HaTanya* describes, that's what he said, דרך משל כשאדם מבין ומשיג איזה הלכה במשנה בגמרא לאשורה על בוריה, when a person grasps, when a person delves into and a person studies and masters a *mishna*, a *shtickel Gemara*, a *halacha*, then their intellect grasps and engulfs, and their minds absorbed and captivated by it, they become literally one with the *Eibishter*, one with the *Ribono Shel Olam*. So there's a room and there's a time to *fabreng*, and there's a time to sing and dance, there's a time to to share *chasidisha Torah*, there's a time, but *mishna*, *Gemara*, *halacha*, it is a *yichud she'ein kamoho*. So there's a time for everything but we understand in the hierarchy, in the emphasis, in the ambition, in the striving, the *Baal HaTanya*, *Perek Hey* of Tanya is describing that as the highest level. Which brings us to section two of *Perek Hey*. וזאת מעלה יתירה גדולה ונפלאה לאין קץ. This is endlessly great and a wonderful advantage אשר במצות ידיעת התורה והשגתה על כל המצות המעשיות, when it comes to learning, studying, grasping Torah. This is a great and wonderful advantage over other *mitzvos*. So blowing *shofar*, putting on even putting on *tefillin*, sitting in a *sukkah*, they're all extraordinary, they're all wonderful, ואפילו המצות התלויות בדיבור. Even a *mitzvah* connected with speech. Speaking is an action. So even a *mitzvah* connected with speech, Torah is connected with speech, you speak out the Torah. אפילו על מצות תלמוד תורה שבדיבור. Even knowing and mastering Torah with your mind has an advantage over verbalizing Torah. There are two parts to learning Torah, on the one hand, we verbalize, we express, just like a *mitzvah maasis*, just like a physical actionable *mitzvah*. You put on the *tefillin*, you sit in the *sukkah*, you shake the *lulav*, and you speak out the Torah. That's the act of learning Torah. But there's also the result of learning Torah, the result of learning Torah is absorbing, understanding into the intellect. And that absorbing, that understanding, that elevating through the intellect is the highest level, even more than speaking out. Now, why is that? Says the *Baal HaTanya*, why is that? Learning, grasping, understanding, absorbing, imbibing Torah is the highest level, higher than any action *mitzvah*, even higher than the action of speaking out Torah. כי בכל המצות של דיבור ומעשה, with all the *mitzvos* involved in speech or action, הקדוש ברוך הוא מלביש הנפש ומקיפה, or *Hashem*. There's a one-way absorption into the divine. As the soul is absorbed into *Hashem* and surrounded by his light, מראשה ועד רגלה. From the *keppeleh* to the *feeselech*. That's a direct translation. מראשה ועד רגלה, from the head to the foot, when a person does a *mitzvah* with their being, with their body, when a person surrenders and sublimates their self, their ego, then in one direction, in one way, the person is absorbed into the divine. The *neshama* is absorbed into *Hashem*. That's true for an action. However, בענין ידיעת התורה, מלבד זה ששכלו מלובש בחכמת ה'. When it comes to *yedias haTorah*, in addition to the mind being absorbed into the divine, הנה גם חכמת ה' בקרבו. You also absorb the divine into you. The *mitzvah* is one way, you go into *Hashem*. But with Torah, you're being absorbed into the *Ribono Shel Olam*, into *Elokus*, but *Elokus* is being absorbed into you. מה שהשכל משיג ותופס ומקיף בשכלו מה שאפשר לו לתפוס להשיג בידיעת התורה. All depending of course on your level, on your mind, on your intellect, on your cognitive ability, as your mind masters and grasps and absorbs whatever Torah knowledge you on your level are able to, איש כפי שכלו וכח ידעתו. yadiaso. Every person according to their mind, their power, והשגתו בפשט רמז דרש וסוד, and of course pardes, the four different levels or layers of understanding, the depths of Torah, whichever layer and level you're on, with whatever ability you bring, when you absorb, you are being absorbed by Hashem, but you also absorb a piece of Hashem, which he's going to explain in a moment in the next section in an incredible mashal that truly illustrates this idea in the most powerful way. ולפי שבידיעת התורה, התורה מלובשת בנפש האדם ושכלו ומוקפת בתוכם. Even though your capacity could be limited. Let's say a person struggles, they don't have this zitzfleish, they can't sit and to learn full time. They sit and they struggle to concentrate. A person doesn't have a great memory. A person's learning up the daf, goes in one ear out the other ear, doesn't stay with them. A person can't really get into the bottom of Tosfos, they can't understand that that Nesivos S'kseis. Still, even if a capacity is limited, filling our being with a divine light is powerful, because with the mitzvah of knowing the Torah, התורה מלובשת בנפש האדם. The Torah is absorbed into your soul and mind and we are engulfed in it. The Torah becomes part of us, part and parcel of us. Or, the way Rabbi Steinsaltz has this in his commentary, he writes it very powerfully. He says the thinker and the thought become one. A complete union is formed between the subject of the person's thought and his thought process. The thinker and the thought become one. When a person understands some other subjects, I'm reading to you now from Rabbi Steinsaltz. When a person understands some other subject, he unites with the idea of the subject, but not the subject itself. When you study the motion of the stars, his mind unites with the concept of the moving stars, but not with the movement of the stars itself. You can study, l'havdil elef havdalos. You can study, you can study all the stats in football. How many rushing yards, how many passing yards, how many sacks, how many punts, how many. You you know all the data, you know all the statistics. You know nothing about the punter. You're not connected with the punter or punting. The Torah however is not merely the understanding of a certain reality, the source of the reality it explains. In the words of our sages, God looked into the Torah and created the world. הסתכל באורייתא וברא עלמא. So when a mind unites with Torah, it is not only with the understanding of something, but also with the thing itself, because Torah is the essence of the thing's very existence. So when you study any other area, you're studying facts, information, knowledge. But when you study Torah, you're connecting with the author of Torah itself. You're connecting with the essence of Torah itself. That is the highest level. The thought and the thinker become become one. And now the Ba'al HaTanya explains it through an illustration so powerful. לכן נקראת בשם לחם ומזון הנפש. The Torah in many places calls, Torah is bread and food of the soul. Look in Mishlei, the Zohar. כי כמו שהלחם הגשמי זן את הגוף כשמכניסו בתוכו ובקרבו ממש. Just like physical bread, hopefully healthy food, with some of its whole wheat. Today it'd be sourdough. In my home we don't call it sourdough because simana milsa. So we call it artisan bread. Because sourdough, simana milsa. You don't want to eat something sour, you'll become sour. So, artisan bread. You're eating some bread, healthy bread. So, it nourishes your body when it absorbs inside you. ונהפך להיות דם ובשר כבשרו, *az yichyeh v'yiskayeim*, and it only keeps you alive after it's transformed into blood and flesh of your flesh. Listen to this mashal. When a person eats food, person eats food, you eat bread, but you eat food, what happens? Right? I think there used to be an expression, a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. That was a way of telling you don't eat too much food. Why what happens? When we eat, you got to loosen your belt. When you eat, and you eat too much, if you eat too much and you eat too much of the wrong things, then now your clothing doesn't fit. Well why? The fact that you put something in your mouth and swallowed it, now your stomach gets bigger? Now your size is bigger? Yeah, that's what food does. The body takes the food and it transforms what you ate, becomes part of your flesh. Literally, you get bigger. You get bigger, you get larger. Eating what we eat becomes part of us, part of us. כי בידיעת התורה והשגתה בנפש האדם שלומדה היטב בעיון שכלו. And the same is true when your soul's knowledge and mastery of Torah, when you study it well, focusing the mind, עד שנתפסת בשכלו ומתאחדת עמו והיו לאחדים. To the point that Torah is absorbed by our intellect and it merges and becomes one. Na'asah mazon la'nefesh. It provides nourishment for the soul. וחיים בקרבו מחיי החיים אין סוף ברוך הוא, and life for it from the giver, from the divine blessed infinite light. המלובש בחכמתו ובתורתו. b'kirbo, dressed in his wisdom, in his Torah, now absorbed inside it. זה שכתוב בזוהר, Torascha b'soch me'ai. This is the meaning of the pasuk, your Torah is in b'soch me'ai. It's a pasuk in Tehillim in kapitel mem, pasuk tes. Torascha b'soch me'ai, your Torah is in my kishkes. What do we mean? That's like a metaphoric idea, Hashem, I love you so much, your Torah's in my kishkes? It means literally the Torah is in my kishkes. Your Torah is in my kishkes. Just like when we eat food it keeps us alive. If a person starves, they'll starve to death. How does Torah keep us alive? When we eat it, it's absorbed and becomes part of us. The magnificent factory that is the human body. This is what the bracha of Asher Yatzar is all about. If one successfully came out of the bathroom, it's a miracle. It's a miracle. It's the most magnificent factory on Earth, created by the Almighty himself. You put one thing in the conveyor belt called the mouth. It extracts the nutrients and all that you need. It disposes of the waste. It's an extraordinary, extraordinary plant, manufacturing plant. It's an unbelievable factory. All created, designed by the Ribono Shel Olam, and when it works, you say in Asher Yatzar, thank you that it works. So you eat, the body extracts the nutrients, it gives us life, and how? It's absorbed in the body itself, becomes part of our flesh. So the Ba'al HaTanya says, this is the comparison between mitzvos and Talmud Torah. Mitzvos are malbush. Mitzvos are like a garment. I'm wearing a garment. I had to choose this morning, not the shirt, that's the easy part for me, but what tie to wear? I'm putting on a garment, and when the day ends, finally at whatever time, you get to take off the garment. The garment isn't you. It doesn't become absorbed by you, it's not integrated into you, it's not part of you. It's something one wears on top of us. We choose it, it identifies us, it's a uniform we associate. It protects us from the elements, but we wear a garment. The mitzvos are the malbush of the nefesh, ruach, neshama. The mitzvos are the malbush of the levush. The mitzvos are the garment that we wear. But Torah? Torah is like the bread, the food that we eat. Unlike the clothing that we wear, the food that we eat, it enters us. It becomes one with us. It becomes part of us and it becomes our very flesh. So Torah is called lechem u'mazon because the Torah, unlike simply the mitzvos that are levush that we do externally with our actions, Torah is something which we absorb, which we integrate, which we eat. It's delicious. It's the greatest meal. Torah is what fills our our belly. And that's what Dovid HaMelech said, Torascha b'soch me'ai. Your Torah is in my kishkes. He didn't mean it metaphorically or symbolically. He meant it literally. When we learn Torah with that intention, when we learn Torah with that mindfulness, we learn Torah with that goal, Torascha b'soch me'ai, I am imbibing Torah. We say Birchas HaTorah, according to some, it's a birchas ha'nehenin. It's geshmak. It's three brachos, Birchas HaTorah. There's an element of birchas ha'nehenin, and birchas ha'shevach, birchas ha'hodaya. It's a whole shtickel Torah for another time. But there's an element not just of a birchas ha'mitzva and a birchas ha'shevach. There's a birchas ha'nehenin because Torascha b'soch me'ai. I'm about to eat some delicious Torah. I'm about to consume some delicious Torah. We need to add this to our intention and mindfulness. Whether it's adults, too many, go to a shiur, open a Gemara, go to the daf. It's just a check, I did today's daf. I had today's chavrusa. I went to today's... You have to go in, Torascha b'soch me'ai, Akadosh Baruch Hu, I'm sitting down, I'm about to consume, I'm about to eat some delicious Torah. I want to take it inside me. I want it to define me. I want it to turn into my flesh. I want it to become me. I'm absorbed into it, it is absorbed into me. The thinker and the thought become one. Unlike the study of any other area of knowledge. The thinker and the thought become one. Torascha b'soch me'ai. That should be the introduction every day to our learning. Akadosh Baruch Hu, let your Torah enter my kishkes. I'm going to make a Birchas HaTorah, it's a birchas ha'nehenin. Like I'm about to have a delicious cup of coffee, I'm going to caffeinate with kavana. You make a shehakol, you remember. So, I'm going to make a bracha, Birchas HaTorah, Torascha b'soch me'ai, we should be zocheh that the Torah enters our kishkes, b'soch me'ai, that the Torah becomes part of who we are, the yichud she'ein kamoihu. This is the highest level. So of course we wear the levush. You can't learn Torah but walk around without clothing. We got to do the levush, the mitzvos. We got to fabreng. We got to make l'chaims. We got to share divrei Torah, a vortlach, חסידישע מאמרים ושיחות, of course. But we strive for the yichud she'ein kamoihu, a mishna, a Gemara, a halacha, so that the Torah enters b'soch me'ai. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy.
