Tanya By Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz Chapter 47 - As we unify with G-D we leave our spiritual Egypt.

welcome to tonight's Tanya class we are studying tonight uh chapter 47 peric tonight as always every chapter of tonight is the most special chapter of Tanya as you already know my line and it's the truth by the way um and the reason is because every chapter in Tanya is a foundation and important concept of mysticism okay so tonight's chapter 47 the alar brings out in a very very practical meditation how everyone can feel God's love every moment and as we know when you feel God's love guess what happens then you love him back automatically so in other words in last chapter chapter 46 the alar explained the concept of what does that mean that when you show somebody kindness by default you're going to get that back if you show a person loves you will get that back that's probably why what that line is that when you tell someone you love them you feel great because you're getting it back automatically so whatever you give out that's what you get back 101 so what did the alter explain last week that we were once slaves in Egypt and God went ahead and took us out made us free people why do he do that cuz he loves us God himself stopped everything he's doing to come to take us out so God loves us because God loves us we can we can act actually have the love back automatically so in this chapter the alar comes along and says very nice how many thousands of years ago did that happen what do we have with that story true we're ancestors of that but how is it personal how does it relate to us in our life so comes along the alar in this chapter of T and opens up your eyes to to show you that going out of Egypt is not an experience of the past that happened thousands of years ago but is an experience in the present it happens in every generation including ours and in every single day every day and as the alterist says this idea that God took the Jewish people out of Egypt we have a obligation an obligation a Biblical Torah obligation it's brought down the tal the miss that we have to every single day see mentally emotionally feel it that we are in Egypt and God is taking us out now how does that happen practically and is very very simple cuz we all know there's two lives that everyone lives well there's many for some people but there's two basic lives there's the physical life and the spiritual life so the physical life that we wore once in Egypt and we went out of Egypt that happened years ago correct that's something in the past but you have to still remember it as a Torah command us but then there is the spiritual Egypt what is the spiritual Egypt the spiritual Egypt what is Egypt Egypt besides the fact there was a place the Jewish people were slaves there they were not free people we were not free we couldn't do what we wanted when we wanted spiritually we we're in Egypt every day how are we in Egypt very simple every one of us has a body physical body in the term of cabal you know what a body is called which is basically the uh the uh the hide of a snake which is basically called a cipa which is a cell a body is neutral it's not holy it's not godly it's not bad it's a neutral thing but it's a CIP it's a shell it's a shell it's a house a house for what for our Godly soul now our Godly Soul as we know it's Godly it's a part of God it's infinite The Godly Soul that's infinite you imagine you took something infinite and you locked it up in a jar and closed the lid I mean it's first of all it's not possible if it's infinite it wouldn't be it wouldn't be constrained by it but God made our Godly soul that it's infinite on one hand on one hand it's infinite but on the on the on the same token while it's infinite it's in in our physical body which is again that's in itself is part of infinite part but our infinite n our infinite soul is we in our body now how do you think the body the soul feels in the body it's constrained that's on one level let's take it a step further you have the body or the animal soul that has a mission and a drive what's the animal Soul's Mission and drive survive survive that's a good answer survive physical enjoyment pleasure laziness uh selfishness anything all about self that's what the animal Soul that's what the body wants come welcome come have a seat what does The Godly Soul on the other hand want what is a Godly Soul want selflessness God godliness love understanding compassion all the spiritual good stuff come have seat welcome now so let's take for example you get up in the morning you get up in the morning you know this we'll keep it simple some people have many many voices like 20 30 right but let's not go let's not get too too too uh um uh conglomerate here let's keep it simple you have two voices one says snooze go back to sleep the other one says no let's get up we got to wash ner let's say let's pray we're going to have a great day with God today we're going to pray we're going to study right but the other voice says come on let's go to sleep get up an hour later half hour later it's starts for 10 minutes doesn't start with half hour you don't and another half right you get up you want to pray come on let's watch the news or check the emails the text the voicemails the what right and go I'm going to first thing in the morning I do is I study a little I pray a little Etc right or you sitting down to eat all right I'm hungry I want to go eat right the animal still wants to eat the God got if you if you're eating bread you got to wash your hands you got to make an til D you got to make hot right there's a constant struggle what's the struggle between two forces and as we know what we study in tiny it's not just two forces it's a war with real ammunition right right the animal soul and The Godly Soul two guys at War what's the basis what's the essence of the war The Godly Soul wants to cleave to God and the animal Soul wants to cleave to itself selfishness all about self so let's look at The Godly Soul where's The Godly soul in prison in prison every single day you get up in the morning you have a Godly soul in prison now you can redeem The Godly Soul you you you can take you know is the animal soul in prison no it sit on the couch it's happy there's a default position for the for the animal Souls what sitting on the couch and maybe flicking some uh some channels on some TV right for those that have a TV or on your iPhone or smartphone or whatever it may be it's the positioners do nothing lazy it survives there's no yearning there there's no struggle there's an animal has no struggle it does whatever it has to it says what it wants it thinks What It Wants there's no struggle there The Godly Soul on the other hand has a yearning you ever you ever watch a candle you ever want to do like a real meditation watch through a candle the fire is like trying to pull out and the wick is pulling it down it's a war between the wick and the fire but but is the wick fighting the wick is sitting there it's happy if you don't bother me the wick wouldn't do anything but the fire is trying to rip away and the and the and the and the wick is pulling it down with the oil the wax Etc so The Godly Soul has this yearning it wants to become one with God and the other hand has to deal with the animal Soul so it's in prison it can't just study when it wants Pray when it wants now when does The Godly Soul feel like he's at of prison thank God I'm free at last at least for this moment when does it feel that way very good when you're studying Torah when you're praying when you're doing mitv now it feels like it's going out of prison welcome welcome come have a seat then it feels like it's going out of prison so in other words going out of Egypt spiritually is we just shifted it we thought going out of Egypt was a story from a few thousand years ago soon as Pastor we're going to talk about the Jews of way back when left Egypt we related to them and thank God we're free because of them that is one story but the reality is the re alter is telling us no no it's it's that's the physical story but the spiritual story is happening to each and every one of us every day our Godly soul is in prison every day now the reality is if we did not have the Torah and we didn't have the mitzvot God forbid or or prayer how would the Godly Soul survive it wouldn't it want to Cle to God but it has nothing to hold on to has nothing to hold on to so God came along with his infinite kindness and gave us a gift what is the gift he gave us the ability for The Godly soul to experience true Freedom by giving it a Torah it means anytime you sit down to study Torah that whether it's 5 minutes 10 minutes a half hour an hour 6 hours whatever the amount of hours it is your soul at that moment is free you took your soul out of prison it feels like it's connected to the infinite any time you're doing a Mitzvah the soul feels free connected to the infinite anytime you're praying the soul feels free connected to the infinite so in other words what happens at that moment you think you so out of prison that's on a global level then the Altera takes it even a step further what happens when a person says shma you know in the prayer service we say in the morning and we say in the evening what is the purpose of shma besides the fact it's it's a verse from the Torah but the re the purpose of shma and the meditation and the Insight the person has to have when the saying shma Isel her Israel hasem elu God our God is one God in Hebrew that's called the concept is you are doing at that moment you are doing you are accepting upon yourself the Yoke of heaven and what are you saying Hashem God El Our God Hashem is it's one God and we're part of the Oneness of God so first he saying that this infinite God which is infinite ELO it's our God our personal God and that is we're all part of that one that Oneness of God what happens when you say that and when you when you say it and you actually think about it a matter of fact according to Jewish law you have to understand the prayers now if you said the prayers you didn't understand you're okay you don't have to repeat it is if you don't comprehend what you're saying and if you're not meditating you got to go back and say it again go back and say it again until you get it but what are you meditating you're really meditating at the is you're accepting upon yourself the Yoke of Heaven that God is my God elu God is my God now who's saying that the Godly soul is saying that together with the animal Soul obviously right he has them harnessed but when The Godly Soul says that and he accepts upon himself the Yoke of Heaven you know what he's doing at that moment connecting with God very good he's connecting with God on a very personal level that's like a real one-on-one relationship when he when when The Godly Soul says what happens to The Godly soul that moment liberated it's free it's free it's liberated so in other words we have an opportunity every single day and as much as we want throughout the day it all depends how much we want to invest in giving our soul Liberation we have an opportunity every single moment of the day to study Torah to pray to do mitv and to say with proper proper intention and by doing that we liberate our soul which is interesting the the the obligation to study Torah every MIT has a requirement when is the obligation to study Torah anyone know what's what's the requirement all time exactly all the time 24/7 okay fine you have an exemption if you have to sleep we got to sleep a little right if you married you got to take care of your spouse if you care if you have kids if you have to work F these are all exemptions but the point is your default setting is where's the where's the mishna where's the tal where's cabala whatever it may be why because your default setting is you want to be connected to God so your default setting since you want to be connected to God you want to always be studying Torah if you're not studying Torah it means you're dis you're unplugging God forbid from there has to be something that's going to keep you connected so for if you're working to earn an honest living to support your family then you're really working for the sake of Heaven if you're spending time with your spouse or your kids or whatever chores you have to do that are holy and appropriate so fine you're whatever you're doing as we know it says everything you do it means even simple things if you going grocery shopping for example for your family or for Shabbat that is for the sake of heaven so you're not disconnecting so when you do that for example if you go in grocery sh because you should enjoy the taste of food with no proper intention so your Godly Soul feels oh my God he's not connected but if you're going for the sake of Heaven your Godly Soul's connected so you want to make sure your Godly soul is always connected what you're really doing at that moment is you're freeing your Godly Soul now what happens once you free your Godly Soul so you're experiencing going out of Egypt every single day what happens when you experience going out of Egypt every day feel free you feel free now what do you mean you feel free you feel connected to God so in other words what what you really feel is the opportunity that God gave you to be able to connect to him and therefore create that freedom over and over over and over and over again so now does God love you or not yes I'm not talking to love you cuz he took somebody out of Egypt thousands of years ago some great ancestor right who we read about in Passover and something throughout the year and some of the prayers Etc we a child why doesn't they love us no going out of Egypt is me and you everyone sitting around here and everyone watching the video every one of us we have an opportunity to free ourselves and we do free ourselves because we do study Torah a we're all sitting here we're studying Torah right if you're watching you're studying Torah right now so right now when you're sitting and studying Torah you're Godly soul is becoming a free person who allowed your Godly soul to become a free free person free God gave us that opportunity by giving us Torah mitv and prayer and Etc so God gave us that opportunity so how do so if God gave us opportunity why did he give us opportunity because whates us cuz he loves us exactly so God loves us and because he loves us he gave us the opportunity to connect to him now if God loves us automatically right right we love him now once we love him so if God loves us we love him what happens automatically now we're in a loving relationship and therefore everything that we do our prayer Our Torah MIT like it said in the previous chapter gets elevated know the Revolutionary concept of chapter 47 the author is introducing here is that this idea that God loves us because he took us out of Egypt is not just a story of the past which really is does apply to US tech technically take us we're free because of that experience but it's really going out of Egypt not just of the past we are going out of Egypt every single one of us today now and the Alor explains it in depth and he says as follows what does it say inma Israel hero Israel God elu the infinite that's my God our God and he says for example like we say in the what do we say in we say Our God and the god of abob right by the Patriarchs God was a personal God to them but the alter comes along and he and he and he says that the relationship that we have the love that we have from God is much greater than Abraham fell from God why he says like this because Abraham how did Abraham have love with God Abraham beseeched God Abraham was a Trailblazer you know he was running after God and he was creating the relationship with God and he was constantly pursuing God and he was willing to go through every test so the AL says what happens is when when you're initiating the loving relationship with God so it will go as far as effort that you put in however us what did we do to receive the Torah from God or the mitzvot so the Au we have Torah mitzvot and prayer from two vehicles one is as an inheritance from the previous generations from a patriarch's matriarchs from the previous generations as inheritance and B we received it as a gift from God but in either case whether it's an inheritance or in a gift do we work do you work for inheritance no dad Grandpa whatever passed away lead your inheritance you're a rich boy what do you do for it nothing nothing a gift you got a gift now when someone leaves you an inheritance or someone gives you a gift does that show the guy hates you or loves you loves you loves you why would he give you an inheritance or a gift how many people get angry at their kids at their children or whoever it may be and they don't leave them in anything it didn't come from love when there's love there's inheritance flows when there's love gifts flow so in other words we that we have Torah mitv is not like Abraham Abraham received God worked for it he trailblazed so his receiving of the Torah and Mitzvah was what because he worked for it it's like when you buy something when you buy something the person you're buying from didn't give you anything you paid him money so he gave it to you it was an exchange but us we didn't buy the Torah in the mitzvot God gave it to us as a gift or we today have it as an inheritance so we received it as what as a gift inheritance that means we got it straight straight from God as truly a one-way street now so God gave us this big gift why did he give us a gift again let's bring it back full circle cuz he loves us so if God loves us are we feeling the love are we feeling it or not yes so if we're feeling it guess what we're going to give back to God a big smile and again not we're not feeling a love that he gave to our great thousands of years ago he gave us to Torah today today he gave it to us but the alter says what has to happen is we need to want it cuz for example God can give you a gift Torah MIT fa in prayer but nobody's home you're sleeping right you're ignoring God he can give it to you all day long it's like someone sending you a present someone goes to the store picks out a beautiful present whatever you like packs it up in a nice gift box and UPS's it to you right you got a nice gift but you never open the box recept is is the box is the present yours absolutely came to your house you accepted it Etc did you ever open it you don't even know what's in there how you going to enjoy it so in other words Torah and and prayer and it's ours but we got to open the box if we don't open the box how are we going to feel it how do you know what's in the box I said to you the person that your present yeah I got it where is it in the Box in the garage right where everything else goes what do they send you I have no idea I have no idea so does the do you feel the love no but what happens when you open the box and you start taking off the wrapping paper and more wrapping paper and you get to this beautiful present and you see how much thought the person had when they sent you the present what happens now you feel that person's love what kind of love do you have back for the person the same thing the person gave you and maybe even more so in other words the Alor says this is all great God loves us and he gave us the Torah and he gave us the mitzvot and he gave us the the prayer and he gave us to connect them Etc but there's one thing we need to do what do we need to do open the box open the book all you need to do is open the book but if you don't open the book it's yours but you don't you you don't know what it is you're not connecting to it so it's extremely important to open the book study the book pray open your heart do the mitzvot then you'll feel the love and then you'll be able to give the love back and what's interesting is the author say ultimate L you see clearly that these two the idea of accepting uh that God taking us liberating us and creating a a relationship with God you see how it's really interconnected why cu the fact is like this there's two mitv in the Torah there's one Mitzvah the Torah which is called the unity of God the Oneness of God what does mean the one of God Everything is Everything Is God it's not a chair a table a person a place it's all God how do we experience that by fulfilling the Commandment of saying isra which speaks of the Oneness of God that's one MIT in the Torah what's this is another mitz in the Torah God took us out of Egypt we were Slavs and we have to we have to recognize the good that God did so we have to remember you have to remember God taking us out of Egypt now what's interesting is that inma even though it's two separ Mitzvah and going out ofah the two of them are put together why they put together and the answer is the alter explains cuz ultimately what does going out of Egypt do when you properly go out of Egypt again not only the past but in the present you know you recognize that God is taking in a real way you recognize that right every single day every single moment God is taking my soul out of Egypt how is God taking my soul out of Egypt because it's allowing it to become one with God via Torah study mitv and prayer and so that creates a Oneness so in other words ultimately what is going out of Egypt in a practical way mean you're feeling that God is releasing you from free from bondage your soul and it's making you one with God and therefore you feel the love and you become one with God and then obviously you have you feel God's love and you give love back to God that's in essence the essence of the MIT of sh Isel and that's why sh Isel the MIT of sh is which is Oneness and going out of it's in the same it's in the same package of shma cuz they really intertwined really going out of Egypt in a real meaningful way in a practical way will get you into oness of God the Oneness of God will lead will lead you to going out of Egypt so you see the way it goes in circle when you focus on the fact that God is One automatically Soul leaves Egypt it becomes one with God when you take when you take your s soul out from being locked up and and you experience that real Freedom how do you do that by becoming one with God so they really in essence they really are the same thing and the brings down he says it's interesting because in the Zohar we all know the Z is very powerful and when the Z says something it says powerful stuff so in the z um cabala the way they analyze certain statements in the Torah so Z says like this and there's a commandment the biblical commandment where God when the Jewish people made the mishan so it says there was Trum you should take for me a truma a separation translate tithing but so the Z says that when it says truma in the Torah so truma means a separation the Z says truma actually doesn't mean on a cabalistic level besides it means on a simple level it means the separation but truma actually means what Torah now what's the connection with truma and Torah and theor is very simple because truma is spelled t r v me so you have in there the word Torah you have the tough and and you have the letter me Moses went up to heaven for how many days to receive the Torah 40 40 days so you have the me for 40 days from Moses going up and you have the word Torah in there so the Torah saying is you should take you should take you should take to me what truma the Torah you should take so the zor ask a simple question Al explains it's so if that's the case the truma is referring to Torah God saying take my Torah right God saying take my Torah take it so Torah God say should take you should take me take me with truma and the truma but it doesn't say and the Trum Trum what mean you should take you should take me true Torah and the auor explains here you see clearly that God and Torah is the same thing that means if you want to take God you want to become one with God take his Torah study Torah observe his Torah you're taking God so anytime one studies Torah and observes a Torah you're taking really God and that's why it says truma because when you're taking you want to take me take the Torah you take the Torah you're taking me and the Ala finishes off with a powerful meditation cuz what did we say before ultimately how do we become one with God in a personal way in a general way it's by studying Torah and doing mitv and praying Etc but how do we become really one with God by the concept which is called Kabal which means accepting the Yoke of Heaven now where do we accept the Yoke of Heaven in when we say Israel Our God one so the Ala says that there's three ways we draw God into us one way is globally another way is personally and then globally and the AL uses actually three different expressions the three different Expressions Al uses is um Ro what what is one of the ingredients the first we said before the person has to want if the person doesn't want what does that mean he doesn't want he gets the box he doesn't open it nothing's happening true deep down he believes but if you don't open the box you're not going to create the relationship so thanks so the first thing you have to do is you have to want the want says that's the first year K why because that's a that's a that's that's that's Global that's external I want I want the relationship but now if you want to internalize you want What's Next Step you want God to be personalized Ma you have to be a receiver what's called a receiver when you sit and study Torah and you receive the data in your brain and you actually feel what Torah is saying and you actually receive the mitv and you're ma means that you accept things you just you know you're accepting you don't question you just you know you just you have then God becomes personalized to you so if you want God to become a personalize God to you you have to means I'm ready to accept like Abraham said I am dust and Ashes what whatever God wants I'm ready to do in other words as Moses we know was the most humble man he was a MAO when you're a ma then the god becomes a personalized Gods from you and then the last ofma which is a good meditation when you're saying the is you're drawing down godliness to you and again that's like us like taking a shower of spirituality which you need both you need a want because without wanting you can't even start so you start with the first which I want God I want then okay AO make it personalize by studying Torah and then once you study it then you allow it to draw in and to penetrate all throughout all throughout you so what do you see from this chapter in Tanya what this chapter of Tanya chapter 47 the alterate accomplishes something very very powerful is by meditating and realizing and feeling with our intellectual capacity of Das Das has another translation harha to feel to feel intellectually and physically and spiritually and all levels emotionally that what we God gave us an opportunity to be free people again not just a story of the past God freed us no no every single day we're fighting being free people and we can be Free People by what by releasing ourselves by doing what by know by connecting to God when we left Egypt God took us out of Egypt right what happened he just told go boom you free people no no no he took us out of Egypt and took us where to mount s to receive the Torah the same thing Also spiritually if you want to go out of your own spiritual limitations you got to go Embrace Torah and when you Embrace Torah and and is the Oneness of God then you are allowing yourself to become free you're allowing allowing yourself to leave Egypt and you literally become what one with God when that happens and you're one with God what you do is freed yourself and and aren't we grateful for that and how we freed how how we have this opportunity to be free because God gave us the Torah God gave us the MIT God gave us the opportunity to to accept God as as as our God so why did God do that because he loves us now if God now and is that that's real that's tangible real love because every single day you can be having the biggest challenges clear the desk clear the mind open that book and be focused you're free at that moment and you make many moments of it did God does God love us or what he really loves us now if God loves us and he gave us freedom what do we feel about him love we love him now if love is Flowing both ways like we spoke about in the last chapter in a real way what happens to everything that we're doing it is great our Torah is better much more on fire our mitzvot are much are are much stronger and much more impactful and our our our our prayers are stronger or as we spoke about a couple of weeks ago that it has the power now because you're with in love with God to be elevated to the greatest and the highest places so let's walk away from this chapter chapter 47 peric m Zion to really take every single day a moment maybe have several moments or throughout the day or especially when we say the shma to really think about the way God is the biggest lover of us and gives us the opportunity every single day to free ourselves free ourselves in the most fascinating way we can become one with God by studying Torah by doing mitzvot and by accepting God as our God when we feel that and we feel God's love we will in turn have tremendous love for God and for everybody out there and this world will be full with love which love we know is a great thing