Transcript
Good morning, good morning, boker tov and a freilichen Shushan Purim to all. Ten minutes of mini-series is sponsored by Marilyn and Michael Fedak. We're very grateful to them. Those who are able to eat or drink something this morning are invited to Rav Shaya'la Kerestir. Have a coffee, a slushie, a pastry. Enjoy. We are on Tanya and we're in the middle of perek chet, we're in the middle of the eighth perek of Tanya. And the Alter Rebbe has been reminding us about the levels of klipa and its impact on us. When a person indulges in certain behaviors or activities, klipas noga is the neutral klipa. Klipas noga is the one that our intention, our mindfulness determines what that action is and the regular klipa, the sitra achra, indulging the other side is what's categorically negative. And then one needs to in the next world be purged of whatever negativity we've absorbed, whatever mistakes we've made. So just like a person, Rav Steinsaltz gave the metaphor of exposure to radiation, the Baal HaTanya, the Alter Rebbe seems himself to describe it as similar to a person who eats, where we absorb what we've eaten. Even if you do teshuva, you have the best intention in the world, that doesn't lower your cholesterol level, that doesn't take away or doesn't change your lab outcome. So a person needs to, we talked about chibur hakever, the first what the body goes through, the soul is experiencing through the treatment of the body, and then kaf hakela, we talked about the next level. Which brings us up to section three of perek chet, I believe. I'm pretty sure. We spoke דבורים אסורים ליצנות לשון הרע כיוצא בהם. I think we covered that. וכן העוסק בחכמות אומות העולם בכלל דברים בטלים יחשב לעוון ביטול תורה. Studying even permitted, non-heretical forms of secular wisdom, says the Alter Rebbe, is considered to be a neglect of Torah study, tantamount in Jewish law to bitul Torah, to worthless discussion כמו שכתוב בהלכות תלמוד תורה, as the Alter Rebbe writes in a Shulchan Aruch Harav in halachos of Talmud Torah. That a person, it's a very complicated sugya. How do you define the mitzvah? Every mitzvah has a shiur, every mitzvah has a measure, every mitzvah has an amount in order to fulfill it. How do you define what is the shiur of the mitzvah of Talmud Torah? How do you fulfill the mitzvah of Talmud Torah? So the assumption is that unless one is occupied and preoccupied with a legitimate, reasonable other activity, they're obligated to be learning Torah. So the question becomes, what's considered a legitimate alternative activity? Eating, drinking, earning a parnassah, sleeping, certain personal needs. Those are legitimate alternatives where a person is not being mevatel Torah in those moments. Arguably they're not even obligated in Torah in those moments. But what about if a person wants to עוסק בחכמות אומות העולם? Somebody wants to study even non-heretical forms. To be exposed to, to read, to study heresy, of course is forbidden, of course is sitra achra, of course is klipa. But even if it's not heretical, it's just secular forms of wisdom. Is that bitul Torah? The Alter Rebbe says yes. So it means that a person has a choice at any given moment whether to open a sefer and learn Torah, whether to attend a shiur and learn Torah, whether to challenge themselves with spiritual growth or secular wisdom. If they have the ability to be busy with Torah and they're choosing the alternative, then that's considered to be indulging in some level of klipa. ועוד זאת יתירה טומאת חכמות אומות העולם מטומאת דברים בטלים. And from a perspective of Kabbalah, secular wisdom might even be more negative, more contaminating, more destructive for the neshama than other forms of devarim beteilim. Why? Because devarim beteilim, if you're talking worthless discussion, it influences and contaminates only the midos, the emotional attributes of the neshama. But secular wisdom is actually in the intellect, and as the Alter Rebbe said in the beginning of Tanya, the intellect is the highest level. It's the intellect that really defines our godly soul. The way we connect with our godly origin is through the intellect. So when a person is speaking דברים של מה בכך דברים בטלים, you're just schmoozing about sports or the like, or speaking about things that speak to the emotional component of the soul. So that's one thing. When a person is engaging their intellect towards a wisdom other than Torah, so that might have a negative impact on the intellectual attributes, and that has a more negative, a more negative effect. So מיסוד הרוח הקודש בנפש האלקית, devarim beteilim contaminates only the emotional from its sacred element of wind. But טומאת קליפת נוגה שבדברים בטלים הבאים מיסוד הרוח הרע בקליפה זו בנפש הבהמית, so we're indulging our lower level, which is not categorically wrong if a person They're narishkeit. So you can't say it's categorically bad, it doesn't fit into the category of klipa of sitra achra, it's not lashon hara and rechilus, you're not gossiping, you're not slandering chas v'shalom, you're just wasting your breath and wasting your time. So that is sourced in b'nafsho habahamis, that's coming from the animal soul, the element of air k'd'loil as we spoke about before. So empty words, Chaim Miller writes, empty words feel good precisely because they're empty content. The lack of alignment to any purpose is related to air which flows freely in any direction without resistance. The animal soul is primarily an emotional creature and its natural activity flows from its elemental disposition. Empty words stem from the desire to be carefree and unrestrained. The truth is this is even in our vernacular. We talk about a person's blowing hot air. If a person's talking and there's no substance to what they're saying, they're blowing hot air, wind. It's even in our vernacular, it's the way we describe it. And the Alter Rebbe says that's where it's coming from. ולא בבחינת חכמה בינה ודעת שבנפש. Worthless discussion, dvarim beteilim, again, they're not violating negative prohibited things, but worthless discussion does not contaminate the intellectual faculties of chochma bina v'daas in the divine soul מאחר שאין דברי שטות ובורות because worthless discussion are words of nonsense and ignorance שגם השוטה ועמי הארץ יכולים לדבר כן. The proof of this is being even fools and the uneducated can speak, can speak that way. מה שאין כן בחכמת האומות המלביש בבחינת חכמה בינה ודעת בנפש האלוקית. noga shebachochmos eilu. So again, it's much more dangerous to use our intellect, but for not the most proper, the most sourced, the most authentic, is much more dangerous than speaking dvarim beteilim which is affecting the middos in the neshama. So we're not speaking about idolatrous or heretical ideas, we're not talking about kfira, but we're talking general knowledge, doesn't have an anti-religious content or anti-religious bent, it's not trying to compromise or corrupt you, it's just a waste. Which brings the question and begs the question: why should math or medicine, why should physics, chemistry, or biology, why would secular wisdom which is not heretical or anti-religious, why would it be negative or contaminating for the soul? The Rambam writes the opposite. The Rambam in fact writes that there are two ways we get to know the Ribbono shel Olam. The highest, of course, is Torah. We have access, Ribbono shel Olam gave us his diary which is a description of elokus. That's the highest way to know him. But the Rambam also says that when a person studies Hashem's world, when we look around and we see the chochma ein ketz, it has no end, the brilliance, the wisdom, we understand the intricate detail, we understand the science that drives the world, that's a kiyum in ahavas Hashem, one of the ways that we draw close, one of the ways we come to love Hashem, to know Hashem is to love Hashem. And how do you know him? You know him in two ways, writes the Rambam. You know him through his diary, his written word, that's the Torah Kedosha, and we know him through his world, we know him through his world. And l'havdil, person had an ancestor they never met, you can come to know them through their written word if you have access to their diary, a letter. You also can come to know them through their creation, through what they built, through what they left us, through their legacy. They left you a painting, they left you ich veis, a sculpture, they left you something of significance, you come to know them. So the Rambam says we know them in both ways. So why is the Alter Rebbe saying that no, if you study the chochmas umos ha'olam, if you study science, medicine, so you're indulging klipas noga, comes from the animal soul, and it's contaminating, it's negative? So the Tanya draws on a teaching of kabbalah: שנפלו שמה בשבירת הכלים. Secular wisdom has fallen there. It comes to the realm of klipas noga through a concept called shviras hakeilim. shviras hakeilim is the shattering of the vessels. Now I have to tell you, on any day I'm not in a position to tell you what shviras hakeilim is. But the morning after Purim, I don't know, maybe you think I got to the levels of understanding shvira, I experienced some a shtickel shviras hakeilim. But I'm not sure I'm in a position to tell you what shviras hakeilim. So I'll tell you what Rav Chaim Miller explains. One of the secrets of creation revealed by the kabbalah, Rav Chaim Vital explains, a quote from Rav Chaim Vital in Likkutei Chadashim. To fashion pottery the potter first takes an unformed mass of clay, places his hands inside the mass to form it. Likewise, the Supernal Emanator put his hand, a ray of light, into the amorphous mass. As this light began to enter the mass, vessels were formed, all ten sefiros. Since keter, crown, was the purest and clearest of all the vessels, it could bear the light within it. But but Chokhmah and Binah though more translucent than those below were not like Keter. Not having enough capacity, their backs broke and they fell from their position. I just read to you a paragraph in English. It was English, it's our first language. Nu, Rabbi Shabetai, what's sheviras hakeilim? What's sheviras hakeilim? We need a few more l'chaims. As the light descended further six points appeared, six fragments of what had been one point of light. So the vessel shattered. Their spiritual essence, the light, ascended back to the mother's womb while the shattered vessels fell to the world of creation. Azoy zogt Rav Chaim Vital. Okay, now translation. While sacred in origin, the falling of these shattered vessels gave rise to the klipos. Since the vessel fragments contained an overwhelming amount of mass, self-awareness, and only a tiny glimmer of light, God-awareness, therefore earthly secular knowledge which was a product of the shattered vessels of Chokhmah and Binah has a propensity towards self and ego and tends to contaminate the mind away from God-consciousness. My limited, very limited, extremely limited, extraordinarily limited understanding is essentially that these are wisdoms that were arrived at, discoveries that came not from the perspective of elokus of godliness, they came through the scientific mind and analysis, they came from a place of ego, of wanting to understand and wanting to master, of wanting to maybe control and manipulate and rule. And so since the way in which these truths were arrived and derived comes from the place of ego instead of elokus, they are laced so to say, they have within them a residue of ego. And therefore any encounter with study or learning something that sourced or that came through a place of ego instead of elokus can contaminate the God-consciousness, the purity and the neshama in us. How that comes through a sheviras hakeilim I don't have clarity. But that's I think what the Alter Rebbe is getting at. מבחינת אחוריים של חכמה דקדושה. The shattering of the vessel sheviras hakeilim affected the backs of sacred Chokhmah and Binah. כי ידוע ליודעי חכמה נסתרה, as is well known to those familiar with hidden Kabbalistic wisdom, which does not include me. As the above citation makes clear, sheviras hakeilim affected different Sefiros to varying degrees. So while the vessels of the six emotional Sefiros were shattered completely, the intellectual Sefiros, a shattering only of their backs. So practically we see this in the extent to which human emotion and intellect are self-serving. Emotions when devoid of intellect are always self-serving. Their holiness has been completely shattered. So if a person indulges pure emotion absent of any intellect, for example, the Rambam and the Ramban both write that while midos, they're called midos, character traits, are good in measure, they belong in some measure. We learn this together when we learned Igeres HaRamban. There are two, one for sure, character traits that don't belong in our recipe in any measure. And they are... Anger. Anger. ממידה טובה מידה רעה. The Ramban writes in the letter to his son: you've got to get rid of anger all together. We should condition ourselves to speak בנחת לכל אדם ובכל עת ובזה תינצל מן הכעס. That's how we'll be saved from ever getting angry, says the Ramban. And the Rambam writes: a person has to be extreme to never get angry. And the other is arrogance. A person has to be extremely humble. The truth is the two go together. They're sourced in the same place. So an emotion, why is anger so bad? Other emotions belong in some measure, other emotions have some redeeming quality to them. Anger has no place. What's the danger of anger? Anger is a pure emotion with no intellect. It's a pure emotion. Pure emotion. A person gets angry, it's all out of ego. You should never feel rage, you could feel outrage. We feel outrage right now towards Iran, towards those who don't get it about Iran. You could feel outrage because that's an intellect. That's a way that's dictating how we respond. But rage, anger, it's categorically negative, it's self-sabotaging, it's bad. Why? Because it's pure emotion with no intellect. Whenever there's pure emotion with no intellect, it's coming from ego. It's coming from ego. That's shattering intellect. At its core, positive and helpful only become corrupt through bias. So Tanya, we'll end Perek Ches right now. אלא אם כן עושה אותן קרדום לחתוך בהם. Now secular knowledge will contaminate a person unless, unless you use it, and here he's borrowing language from the Mishnah in Avos, as a spade with which to dig. דהיינו כדי להתפרנס בהם בריוח לעבודת השם. To earn a comfortable livelihood. או שיודע להשתמש בהם לעבודת השם ולתורתו. This is a very important qualification the Alter Rebbe puts at the end, where he says this secular wisdom that might have been sourced in ego, which really is coming from the nefesh habahamis, coming from the klipas noga, is bad unless... It is enabling you to earn a parnasa, so you became a good Jewish doctor to give your parents nachas, you're into good living, once upon a time doctors earned good living. So that's number one. Or number two, you know how to study biology, chemistry, physics, math, science, you know how to engage these disciplines in a way that's going to not detract or contaminate your godly soul but it's going to elevate, enrich, it's going to draw you closer to the Ribono Shel Olam. וזהו טעמא של הרמב\"ם והרמב\"ן זכרונם לברכה וסיעתן שעסקו בהם. So the Alter Rebbe has to address. Everyone knows the Rambam was a doctor, the Ramban also was a physician. They were both doctors. So the Alter Rebbe can't be describing that the Rambam and the Ramban indulged, engaged Klipas Noga, Nefesh Bahamis, so he gives them the benefit of the doubt, either because, I don't know what he's saying, just parnasa or also they both knew how to use it for avodas Hashem. I'll end by reading to you from Rabbi Steinsaltz because Rabbi Steinsaltz was brilliant and very knowledgeable in the secular wisdoms of the world. So how did Rabbi Steinsaltz comment here on this perek? The end of Perek Ches. So he writes the following. Secular science can assist in the service of Hashem not only indirectly such as through providing a livelihood but also directly. If the knowledge itself is used to serve Hashem. If a person studies philosophy to clarify for himself the ways of serving Hashem, if he studies astronomy to see how the heavens relate to the glory of God, if he studies other sciences in order to devise ways of better fulfilling the mitzvos, his pursuit of these studies constitutes a part of his service of Hashem. The chapter on astronomy in Rambam includes in the beginning of Hilchos De'os are not a professional study of astronomy, part of his halakhic work Mishneh Torah. Rambam's astronomy makes him think not of Ptolemy but of Hashem. His assumption is that the more one knows about creation, the more one knows about the creator. The greatness of the creator can be inferred not only from astronomy. Once looking at a tiny worm in the sand, one rabbi remarked: people think that only the heavens relate to the glory of Hashem, how much divine glory is there in a tiny worm? There's a saying attributed to the Vilna Gaon, when someone lacks one part in science, he lacks nine parts in Torah knowledge. Science aids the understanding of Torah and even the logical comparison of different systems can be a stimulating tool in studying Torah. So when a person pursues secular knowledge in one of the above manners, he does to it what he does to the bread he eats for the sake of heaven, he transforms klipa into holiness. One can say this chapter completes the map delineating the boundaries of good and evil, holiness and klipa, Klipas Noga and the profane klipos. In the following chapters, now the Alter Rebbe considers the person. What transpires and what process he should initiate within his soul. So we were talking theoretical, abstract, concepts, categories. And now moving forward beginning with Perek Tes, now we're going to get to the Tzaddik, the Rasha, the Beinoni, we're going to get to how this applies to the person. Of course we have to find a way to understand and reconcile the end of Perek Ches because the Rebbe, zatzal, studied in university. The Rebbe was an engineer, a practicing engineer before he became came in and became the Rebbe. So the Rebbe too was very brilliant and very knowledgeable in the secular ways and wisdoms of the world. Chalila not indulging in Klipas Noga or Nefesh Bahamis, but this highest level. So it's interesting how the Alter Rebbe didn't give the qualification at the beginning, he made the absolute statement in a very extreme and intense way, and at the end he gave the qualification, maybe because he wanted there to be a word of caution and a warning that a person has to know that they're capable, that they're in that position, that they're being sincere in the way that they're engaging. Baruch Hashem we complete Perek Ches and im yirtzeh Hashem next week we'll begin with the ninth.
