Transcript
Good morning, *Boker Tov*, welcome back to 10 minutes of *Tanya*, generously sponsored by Myra Lennard and Michael Fiddak. We remain very grateful to them. Please help yourself from Rabbi Shaya's corner: coffee, slushies, pastries and the like. We are beginning today the seventh *perek* of *Tanya*, *Perek Zayin* of *Tanya*. We last left off talking about the three *klipos*. *Klipos* we described are in the model of ego versus *elokus*, that all of our life can be evaluated by what we're doing, eating, saying, where we're going, what we're thinking, which are all the garments of the soul. Are we doing so in order to indulge in the ego? Are we doing so because of our sense of self, our need, our want, our desire, our craving, or are we doing so as a yearning for *elokus*? Because we're striving, we're reaching, we're going higher and higher to connect to Hashem. Everything fits into ego or *elokus*. So the *Ba’al HaTanya*, *makhadesh* the *Ba’al HaTanya* actually introduced this new idea that there's not, unlike the world of *halacha*, that there's something which is *assur*, something which is a *mitzvah*, and that which is *reshus* in the middle. In the world of *hashkafa* or *machshava*, in the world of *avoda*, everything is either ego or *elokus*. We're either doing it in a way that's bringing us closer to Hashem or driving us further. So the first three *klipos* are *klipos* that are categorically bad or negative. They are all by definition ego. And the end of *Perek Vav* ended with several examples of them. All non-*kosher* food, all non-*kosher* speech, all non-*kosher* behavior, essentially why would one engage or indulge in any of them is only because of ego. It's all and only out of ego. But then we encounter the fourth realm, the fourth *klipa*, and the fourth *klipa* is called *klipas noga*. And on the one hand, it's a *klipa*, it's a husk. On the one hand, it's a blockage. On the other hand, it's *noga*, it is bright, there is light. How could it be both the husk, the *klipa*, and *noga* and bright? Because it is neither defined categorically as ego or *elokus*. It is open and available for us to decide and determine what it is. So with that we begin *Perek Zayin*. *Ach*, however, in contrast, נפש החיונית הבהמית שבישראל שמצד הקליפה the energizing animal soul of a Jew that comes from the *klipa* המלובשת בדם האדם כנזכר לעיל which is embodied in our blood. Where are the *klipa* in the blood? Why? Because *klipa* emanates from the animal in us. And here Rabbi Steinsaltz points out in his commentary that when the *Ba’al HaTanya* is invoking the image of an animal, not necessarily lowly and base and animal in the negative way. Animal means biological. Biologically, anatomically, we have a lot in common with an animal. We eat, we eliminate, we reproduce. Much of who we are, the physical being of who we are, much of it parallels the animal, the animal kingdom and animals. So biologically we have this animal. Where is the animal in us found? That animal soul that is part of earth and here and craves pleasure and the now, where is that animal found? That's found in the blood. *Hadam hu banefash*, *hanefesh badam*. ונפשות הבהמות וחיות העופות ודגים טהורים ומותרים באכילה. So number one, where is this *klipas noga*? In the animal soul in us. The animal soul is not good or bad. Unlike other, the *Ba’al HaTanya* says our goal is not to *shacht* or slaughter or purge or eliminate the animal. We're trying to train the animal. We want the animal to be working for us. So number one, the energizing animal soul is in the blood and that is *klipas noga*. Second example or manifestation of *klipas noga*: ונפשות הבהמות וחיות העופות ודגים טהורים ומותרים באכילה. If non-*kosher* foods are automatically ego, then *kosher* foods, you could eat *kosher* food in one of two ways. You could be a glutton, you could eat it out of ego, you could eat it out of desire, you could eat it as a base animal, or you could be elevating the experience and the act of eating. The eating is a way of connecting to the source of that food, to the life force. וקיום וחיות כל דומם וכל צומח המותר באכילה and the bright *klipa* being the sustenance and life force of everything that's permissible to eat from the animal world and the vegetable world. *V'chein* number three, וכן קיום וחיות כל מעשה דיבור ומחשבה בענייני עולם הזה, the *klipas noga* is also the sustenance and the life force of every worldly act, spoken word or thought. We said that the soul has garments, the way that the soul presents itself and interacts with the world is through speech, thought, and action. So in our speech, thought, and action, it's not categorically good or bad. It's not inherently or intrinsically positive or negative. It's *klipas noga*. It's what we do with it. שאין בהם צד איסור לא שורש ולא ענף. It has no trace of inherent religious prohibition, neither in its root nor its branch, משס\"ה מצוות לא תעשה וענפיהם דרבנן. or *d'rabanan* from the three hundred and sixty-five prohibitions or from their offshoots which are *d'oraisa* or *d'rabanan*. So why is such an activity considered to be from *klipa*, the dark energy, if it's not prohibited, if these are *kosher* foods and if these acts, speech, and thoughts are permissible, so why are they *klipa* at all? Right, in other words the *Baal Tanya* again is setting up this paradigm. I would have thought that anything that's not prohibited is perfectly permissible. If it's not *assur*, what's the problem? However, the *Baal Tanya* is setting up this paradigm he began in the last *perek* and continues into this one that says that's not true. That whole paradigm, that whole assumption is incorrect, it's inaccurate. It's not that if it's not *assur*, what's the matter with it. It's that even the things that look neutral are *klipas noga*. They can go one of two ways and it's up to us to decide which direction to put it. *Bishtains alt right*, an old *chasidic* saying states: what is forbidden one must not and what is permitted one need not. What is forbidden one must not and what is permitted one need not. What is forbidden, he writes, is evil holy on the other side. What is permitted is also *klipa* and *sitra achra*. What is permitted is not holy and therefore belongs to the other side. For the other side includes all that is not holy. What is not a *mitzvah*, what is not actively holy, is *klipa* husk, something extraneous to the divine essence of creation. The difference between the forbidden and the permitted is not the difference between holiness and *klipa*, but the difference between the levels of *klipa*, between *klipa* that can be rectified and *klipa* that cannot be rectified. So therefore *klipas noga* is still from the world of *klipa*. If the urge for it is not a *mitzvah*, *mitzvah* is by definition categorically good. *Mitzvah* is the means to connect to *elokus*. But *klipa*, if it's not a *mitzvah*, it's just *muttar*. Just because it's permissible doesn't mean you have to. What is forbidden one must not and what is permitted one need not. Why? Because even that which is permitted has an element of *klipa*. Whatever pastry is available in the lobby today is *muttar*, has a *hechsher*, it's *kosher* in theory, you could eat it. It's permissible. So is it a *mitzvah* to eat it? It has *klipa*. It's extraneous to creation, to holiness. It has a husk, an element. Now if you're eating it to make a *bracha*, if you're eating it to observe a *yahrtzeit*, *ich veis*, if you're eating it because *hakadosh baruch hu* created it, you want to connect to him by saying the *bracha* and eating the food that's going to give life force and sustain you throughout the day. If you're eating it because your sugar's dropping and you're a diabetic and eating a little something with sugar in it is the way you're going to maintain your health in the moment, there's all kinds of ways to redeem the *klipa*. But it's *klipas noga*. It's not outright *klipa* because it's not *assur*. If it were, we would never have non-*kosher* in the lobby. But if it were non-*kosher*, it would be outright *klipa*. Because it is in this middle category, it's *klipas noga* and we have the ability to either elevate it or to lower it, or to lower it. So continues the *Alter Rebbe*. So we learned in the last *perek* that an activity might serve either to enhance awareness of divine energy which saturates the universe or ego. Right, the whole world is this paradigm, what we're doing, what we're saying, what we're thinking, where we're going is either ego or *elokus*. ואפילו הוא צורך הגוף וקיומו וחיותו ממש, a *kosher* activity will strengthen *klipa* even if it's really bodily need for continued living. In other words you have to eat, so now you're sitting down to lunch, to breakfast, let's say you're having breakfast, you're not an intermittent faster and you're having breakfast. When you sit down to breakfast this morning, that's *tzorech haguf*. You need to eat. You need to eat to live. So you might think if I need to eat to live, by definition then it's good. Says the *Baal Tanya*, no. אלא כוונתו אינו לשם שמים לעבודת השם בגופו. If while you're eating, your *kavana*'s not *l'shem shamayim*, you're not sitting meditating, reflecting, thinking with tremendous intent I'm making a *bracha*, *hakadosh baruch hu* created this food, *Hashem* is amazing, he created me that I need to eat it in order to live. So when I eat it and he is the source of it, he is giving me life, and through the act of eating I am connecting to the source of life, and this act of eating is transformational, it is a religious experience. The act of eating can either be a religious experience or a gluttonous experience. לא עדיפי מעשה דיבור מחשבה אלו מנפש החיונית הבהמית בעצמה. All these unawakened acts, spoken word, thoughts are not superior to the animal soul's energy itself, which is focused on the self. You could eat, we actually use this in our vernacular, we describe somebody who eats like an animal. You could eat like an animal, you could eat like a pig, you could eat in a gluttonous animalistic fashion, and that's indulging the animal, that's *klipas noga*. Or you could eat with ego or you could eat with *elokus*. And just as you can't lift yourself up by grabbing your own hair, no force in the universe writes Rabbi Chaim Miller can transcend its own source. without outside assistance. If an act is motivated exclusively by the animal soul, which is powered by self-centered Klipah, it cannot awaken to God. Wow, let's say that again. You can't lift yourself up by your own hair. You can't reach up, in theory, when you had hair, and lift yourself up by your own hair. You would need an outside force to do it. If Alan Berger's standing next to you and you have hair, he can certainly lift you by your hair, but it takes an outside force. You can't lift yourself up. So so too the animal soul in you, you can't lift it up because it has self-centered Klipah in it, so it cannot awaken to God. Ve-kol ka'asher lakol ונשפע ונמשך ממדרגה שניה שבקליפות וסטרא אחרא and it is the same for all all kosher objects and activities and the animal soul itself are powered metaphorically, metaphysically by the second higher level within Klipos and Sitra Achra שהיא קליפה רביעית הנקראת קליפת נוגה which is this fourth Klipah, and it has the bright light. While predominantly self-centered, it has a little good, making it bright. So all Klipos aren't categorically bad. Klipah is ego, that which is forbidden, that which is assur, that which is issur, that which is aveirah, that drags us down. Indulging it is indulging the ego, you're doing something wrong. Watching, saying, going, doing, thinking, you're indulging ego, it's lowering you, it's lessening you, it's the pull of spiritual gravity. But Klipas Noga is not categorically good. A mitzvah's categorically good. A mitzvah that you do, we'll get to Lishma, shelo lishma, kavanah, no kavanah, pnimiyus of the mitzvah, we'll get to. But the mitzvah you've done an act that's categorically good. Klipas Noga is in the middle, where it depends on the intention that we bring to it. An act powered by Klipas Noga could either promote ego-consciousness or it could bring you to awareness of Hashem. These two possibilities are suggested by its name. On the one hand, Klipah, it's a husk, it conceals Hashem. On the other hand, it's Noga, it's bright, it doesn't eclipse Hashem fully, right, it's it's a husk that's blocking Hashem. Outright Klipah, outright ego, outright negativity is a total eclipse of Hashem. There's no light that shines through. It's pure darkness, it's the other side, it's the Sitra Achra. Klipas Noga is a partial eclipse. On the one hand, it's concealing God. If you eat, if you sleep, if you indulge in the physical, animal, biological world we live in, it's an eclipse, it's eclipsing Hashem, but there's Noga, there's light that shines through of Him, it's neither categorically positive or negative, good or bad, and we have the capacity to connect and it's up to us, will we indulge in it as a ego-consciousness? Is it an ego experience or is it an Elokus experience? שבעולם הזה הנקרא עולם העשיה רובו ככולו רע in this physical world, the world of Asiyah, there are many worlds, in this world of Asiyah, so evil predominates. Rubo kekulo ra. There's a lot of negativity, a lot of darkness, a lot of pull, a lot of gravity weighing us down. רק מיעוט הטוב מעורב בתוכה and only a little good is mixed in. The odds are stacked against us. It's grossly unfair. כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו we wake up, we're already in the red, we're already dragged down. This is I've quoted several times what the Ger what the Gerer Rebbe quotes the Pnei Menachem. The Pnei Menachem says why is there gravity? In everything in the physical world there's a corollary in the metaphysical world. The same way in the physical world gravity's pulling us down and we have to resist it in order to lift up, in the spiritual world, spiritual gravity is weighing us down and we have to resist it in order to lift up. That's what the Alter Rebbe is saying. Rubo kekulo ra. There's a spiritual gravity. For I was saying from when we wake up in the morning, but the truth is it's from before we wake up in the morning. It's the first three snoozes in the morning. Maybe you can or can't relate to this, I every morning go through a battle many don't even know the likes of which. Before I even get out of bed there is a battle and a war that took place, several alarms, several snoozes, maybe somebody's not so happy there's several alarms and several snoozes. There's all kind there's a battle, there's a war, there's arguments and excuses why I don't need to wake why I don't need to get out of bed why I don't need to. It's a war. The spiritual gravity, gravity's weighing us down and you have to resist it, you have to overcome it. Rubo kekulo ra writes the Alter Rebbe. ומשמנה באות מידות טובות שבנפש הבהמית שבישראל כמו שנתבאר לעיל this little good, מיעוט טוב מעורב בתוכה the little bit of good that's mixed in, this is the source of the positive qualities in the animal soul. The animal soul is predominantly bad. It's a spiritual gravity. It is directing us and driving us with cravings towards bad things, wrong things, self-sabotaging things. But there's a shtick good, there's a little bit of good within even that animal soul, and that's Klipas Noga, what we tap into, that's how we can get around the partial eclipse to access the light of Hashem that is shining through even through that Klipas Noga. Ve-hi and then the Alter Rebbe continues. We'll stop here with the relationship between Klipas Noga, the fourth Klipa, and the first three. We'll pick up with this im yirtzeh Hashem next time.
