Daily "Chitas" Tanya

m036 031 Tanya Teves 19 ~ 25

Questions for today:  

Are things outside of my relationship with the Creator truly, completely, out of my realm?

Do you ever feel like you want to strangle someone?

A couple of days ago, we started off the Tanya thought with that question. We quickly switched to a much more relatable example, because no matter how imperfect we are, there are certain things that are just totally out of our realm.

Today’s Tanya teaches, that that's the main distinction between a ‘fully righteous’ Tzadik, and a so called intermediate ‘Beinoni’.

By a Tzadik, anything that's not directly related to the relationship with the Creator, is totally out of their realm.

A Beinoni on the other hand, might practically make the right decisions every day, but it's not because everything else is totally out of their realm.

They might need G-d's help to make that decision.

This is even if they might be so clear about the relationship with the Creator that they might actually living every single day like they're on a romantic honeymoon with the Creator - every napkin, every drink, is totally related to the relationship with the Creator.

Neverthaless, today's Tanya reminds us that the Talmud says, that even such a person should consider the animal soul like it's just dormant, and it's ready to cast an opposing vote.

We should wake up every single day ready to fight it.                                                                                                                               

Tanya book 1, ch13 pt 2       

No matter how idealistic our relationship may be, don't take it for granted. Be ready, every day, to fight for it.             

Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/29/2021                   

See today’s video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3L72IjPDFw&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=31   

 m035 030 Tanya Teves 18 ~ 24  

Questions for today:

Where can we see an example of this idea: I have a G-dly Soul, I have an Animal Soul – and they are both at play?

A salesman hears a big commotion as he knocks on a door. He askes the person who opens, “I'm here selling energy are you the master of the house?”

The flustered fellow looks at him and says “you have to come back in a few minutes, we're trying to figure that out right now”.

Today's Tanya summarizes what we learned unil now and says; this is why the Torah tells us that every single person has two ‘judges’, not two ‘rulers’.

This is because both the animal soul and the G-dly soul can't act on their own. They both got a vote.

Therefore we should always consider ourselves, not a ‘wicked’ person but K’rasha, ‘like’ a wicked person.

We should never forget that inside we have a judge that's always ready to vote for selfish and nefarious ideas.

It's possible, that even though day after day the verdict goes the right way, that could be, not because we are completely perfected, but because of the third judge - because of G-d who is always standing and illuminating our lives so that wisdom and light will automatically be victorious over foolishness and darkness

Tanya book 1, ch13 pt 1     

Our animal, and G-dly, soul cannot rule by fiat, they just get a vote. However G-d grants, that if we put up a fight, G-d will provide illumination to always break the tie, for good.        

Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/28/2021                          

See today’s video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2I4tORfywo&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=30

Additional thoughts:

We learned earlier that the brain naturally has the capacity to control the heart.

Why now do we say that there is a third judge, G-d, that casts the deciding vote? Shouldn’t Brain be able to achieve victory on its own?

But if we read carefully, we see that we are describing a person where the thoughts already made the journey from the heart to the brain.

We’re not just talking about somebody who’s Soul contains some narcissism and it needs to be knocked down.

We’re talking about someone who allows those thoughts to enter into the brain, to be an acting judge.

Therefore today, we learn that even when those feelings became actual thoughts, G-d gets involved to make sure that if we fight, we will win.

m034 029 Tanya Teves 17 ~ 23 

Questions for today:

We learned that a Beinoni, us, hasn’t reformatted the inner Soul. This would naturally generate objectionable thoughts stemming from the inner being that is not yet refined. How can we then be responsible for what happens in our mind?                      

Do you ever feel like you want to strangle somebody?

Okay, it's a figure of speech. However, a lot of us thought “I wish the cop gives a ticket to that person that just cut me off”.

We're studying the Beinoni, the so-called intermediate person. This is someone that is completely in control of their action, their speech - even their thought.

Nevertheless, the conscious stream is going to be a mirror of the inner, spiritual, structure of that character. Therefore, until we completely remodel that, there are going to be negative thoughts that pop up out of place, and there are going to be positive thoughts that are inappropriate.

Today's Tanya tells us that we're not bound by those thoughts that pop up - we are in control of, and responsible for, the next step: we control the active thoughts that we have.

We learn a lesson about this from Joseph and his brothers. What would Joseph's ‘natural’ conscious stream have been? Anger, and hatred  to his brothers for selling him down to Egypt.

What was he able to accomplish by ‘choice’? He was able to look at his life story - and even his brothers actions - as part of God's ultimate plan: a historic humanitarian rescue mission, saving millions of people from starvation.

Tanya book 1, ch12 pt 4 (5)

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/27/2021                     

See today’s video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpyS4C5tlFs&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=29     

m033 028 Tanya Teves 16 ~ 22 

See in blog: ChabadMed.com/TanyaBlog  

Questions for today:   

How can I see that I still have work to do?

I have a friend whose main role in camp was entertainment. He had a card which said, when you pass by a construction site, anybody involved in building stops and looks. When you pass by a painter, everybody who is into art stops and looks - but when you pass by a clown, everybody stops and looks. Why? because we're all a little bit of a fool.

We've been speaking about the ‘beinoni’, a so-called intermediate person that is in complete control of their action, their speech, even their thought. Why doesn’t that person deserve the technical definition of tzadik, a fully righteous person?

Because in order for all of us to graduate from this level of ‘Beinoni’, we would have to define ourselves only and completely with the privilege and purpose of our relationship with the creator.

So much so, that if we saw somebody skydiving, or we saw an invitation to the Opera, or we saw delicious donut, our only thought would have to be, “what impact could I have with this?” or, hmm that’s an interesting thing that some other people do.                        

Tanya book 1, ch12 pt 3                                                           

Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/26/2021                                                                    

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RVHv-hQdfk&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=28

m032 027 Tanya Teves 15 ~ 21    

Questions for today:  

Can I really be responsible for every thought that I have?

The world is big and powerful, the glimmer of my Soul seems tiny, how is that fair?       

Today's Tanya has powerful lessons for the day-to-day life of a Jew.

We are discussing a comprehensive relationship between us and the Creator though the way that we act, and the way that we speak, and even in the way that we think.

This makes it important to note that today's Tanya specifies “machshava mamosh” ‘actual’ thought - we're not discussing perfection in the whims that enter a person's head without a control. We are referring to thoughts a person thinks of emotionally and practically – those would be what would get in the way between the relationship of us and the Creator.

A second thought from today’s Tanya:

When we think of the challenges in the world around us; tables full of tempting foods, stadiums full of cheering people – they might be ‘foolish’ compared to the relationship that we have with the Creator, but they're a lot, and they're very strong

Therefore, today’s Tanya reminds us that the natural way that we were created, and the way the world was created, is that a tiny drop of wisdom, a tiny drop of light, they don't have to fight.

A drop of wisdom, a drop of light, automatically dissipate vast amounts of foolishness and darkness.                                                         

Chapter 12, pt 3

Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/25/2021                                    

See Today’s video:                               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPpJ6Cb0VnM&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=27    

m031 026b Tanya Teves 14b ~ 20       

Questions for today:

Can I get to a place where the ‘good that I am doing’ is actually ‘me’?                     

yesterday we learned of the state of being of a ‘Beinoni’, a so-called intermediate person. This is a character in whom the full Divine Soul that wants to be one with the creator, and also the Animal Soul that wants to be self-serving, are both at play - even if the person is thinking, saying, and doing, the right thing.

Today we learn that sometimes this person could have the Divine soul in full control.

What are grown-up thoughts? These are when our thoughts have a practical outcome. When we say the shema and when we pray, we induce ‘grown-up thoughts’ in heaven, and the Divine thoughts take over practical control.

This also happens parallel below with us.

When we go through the intellectual exercise of the blessings before the shema, which lead to the shema process – Shema literally means ‘to comprehend’ the Oneness of the Ceator, which leads to ‘veohavta’, the ‘love’ of the creator, which leads to a desire to ‘connect’ to the creator through ‘Ukeshartom’, doing the commandments.

With this we're not just thinking, saying, and doing the right thing - our divine soul is in control.

Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/24/2021                                  

See Today’s video:                              

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OkzY8DMbw0   

Additional thoughts:  

Even though we are describing a scenario where the intermediate person is fully is being ruled fully by the Divine Soul, this doesn’t change their status to a ‘Righteous person’.

If they would have truly changed, then when they finished praying they would not revert back to their natural state.

The fact that afterwards they revert back, means that even at the time it was not a true change.

m030 026 Tanya Teves 14 ~ 19         

Questions for today:

Who or what ‘determines’ how I act today?                                                 

Until now the Tanya was talking about lofty characters of a person, for example somebody that doesn't even have a temptation to do a sin.

That level is attainable by everybody, but not in the level that it's a mandate for everybody to attempt to achieve.

Today we discuss something that is also lofty, but it's at a level where there is a mandate for each and every person to strive for.

This is an expectation for things that are practical; the actions that we do, the words that we speak - even the thoughts that we think, shouldn't sin for a moment.

In fact, the wording that Tanya uses is that a person ‘never did a sin’ and ‘never will do a sin’.

This doesn't mean we need to have control over the past or the future. What it means is that, even though the nature of a sin is that it pulls a person to do another sin, today I'm detached from all that, I'm a new person. No matter what I did yesterday right now it's as though I've never ever done a sin.

This concept applies for the future as well. My stance now is not that “I'm behaving today”, I'm in a place now that come what may, I will never do a sin. 

Study today’s Tanya in full: https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/23/2021                                

See Today’s video:                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIM5QKVLhsM&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=26

Additional thoughts:

Until now we described the two parts of a person, the internal part which is the ten components of the soul, and the external part, the persons thought speech and action.

We mentioned that we all have two full sets of those, one set selfish and animalistic, and the other set which is Divine.

We then gave examples of people with various forms of control of either one. Today we discuss someone who is not ‘fully’ under the control of either.

Both sides are active in the person’s consciousness, and factor in whenever a choice comes up.

The description today includes a person who never sins and in fact - doesn’t even think of doing a sin.

How is that different from a righteous person?

The distinction is inside. There is no comparison between a person who is sober for ten years, to a person who is simply not struggling with alcoholism.

A righteous person is someone who internally is controlled by the G-dly Soul.

What we are discussing today, is a person that is ‘sober’. They are not even thinking of ‘taking a drink’, but they have not gotten past the fight.

M029 025 Tanya Teves 13 ~ 18

Questions for today:
When I do something wrong how guilty do I feel? How much against my grain does it go?                                              

Today’s Tanya is very difficult because the description cuts deeply, so I have to make an important disclaimer: we're talking here about a technical definition. With regards to describing actual life, the Talmud teaches that if a person just ‘thinks about’ repenting, not only are they righteous, they become ‘fully righteous’.

With regards to the technical definition, the Tanya today teaches that the same way that there are thousands of levels with a [basic] righteous person, similarly with a [basic] wicked person there are also thousands of levels.

These are measured based on how much they push away the good, ranging from somebody which pushes it away a little bit, so only an action, or speech, or even just thought – they only think about doing something bad – and briefly, they immediately repent.

…ranging to somebody where the good is pushed so far away that they barely ever feel guilty. Only occasionally, they “think about” repenting.

The distinct level of a ‘fully wicked’ person is defined as someone who never feels any guilt or regret.

Although the description of a ‘fully righteous’ person, and a ‘fully wicked’ person seem identical on their opposite sides of the spectrum, there is an important distinction.

With regards to a fully righteous person we said that the animal soul becomes a partner and a participant in the Good. The reverse is not the case. With a fully wicked person the good doesn't become a partner with the bad, it just becomes detached and completely aloof.                                                                                                                                                                

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/22/2020

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA4Ip1ZN6wg&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=25              

M028 024 Tanya Teves 13 ~ 17

Questions for today:

If love is about “loving you”, then If I am so concerned with “my” love your you, is it truly love?

Yesterday we discussed the distinction between a ‘righteous person’ and a ‘fully righteous person’.

If those descriptions seemed above our pay grade, don't worry – Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai says that in all of history there are only a few such people.

Today we're going to go a little farther in the distinction between a ‘righteous person’, and a ‘fully righteous person’.

A righteous person is not tempted at all by bad, because they feel deeply close to the creator. Nevertheless, somewhere in the subconscious there's a little bit of a hidden appreciation of selfish pursuit.

There are thousands of levels in that category, varying based on the amount that that appreciation is diluted, and exactly what it is that they appreciate.

By contrast, a fully righteous person has so gotten rid of any personal pursuit that anything that's not directly enthused by the creator is actually considered revolting to them.

As an extension of this complete loss of self-centeredness, we see another distinction: A righteous person is pursuing a relationship with the Creator partially because ‘they’ want to be close to the Creator. A fully righteous person wants to be close to the Creator because ‘the Creator’ will appreciate it.                                                                                                                 

Study today’s Tanya in full:                                                                           https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/21/2021

See today’s video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjvoOoL25AE&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=24

Additional thoughts:
Two titles.

When describing the levels of righteous or wicked people we use two descriptions; “’fully’ righteous/wicked” vs “’incomplete’ righteous/wicked” and, “righteous ‘and good/bad’” vs “wicked ‘and bad/good’”.

These two titles are parallel to the two barometers for how deep/full the love is;

“Righteous ‘and good/bad’” is a title based on how well they removed any connection to bad, measured by the revulsion to negativity.

“’fully/incomplete’ righteous” is a title based on whether they are motivated by their personal goal of connecting to the Creator, vs being motivated by the joy the Creator has from their service.

One of the qualities of a fully righteous person is that they elevate everything physical both in the world around them, as well as of their own persona, up to G-dliness.

This ties directly in to the fact that a fully righteous person is someone that removed any connection to or respect for self-serving physicality.

No matter how inspired we might be to elevate physical things to a spiritual realm, if we still are personally attached to it, that attachment will hold us back from being able to elevate it properly.

M029 024pt 2, Tanya Teves 11pt2 ~ Teves 16

Questions for today:

If I am not tempted to do anything wrong, does that mean that I fully love the Creator? How can I measure the extent of my love, and perhaps uncover any inappropriate self-love?

The way that today's Tanya tells us how to measure a fully righteous person takes a common intuitive perspective and turns it around.

Intuitively, we think that a loving person will love everything.

Today's Tanya tells us not only is that not 100% accurate, it might actually be the reverse.

Imagine a Holocaust survivor teaching a presentation in a modern teenage classroom. One of the students raised their hand and asks, why the hatred to the Nazis? Why not just be sad for the victims?

Where's the question coming from?

This isn’t because the teenager has so more love.

It's coming because the child never felt the deep attachment of unmitigated love. What they're seeing in the senior citizen is what Tanya today says: True, deep, love doesn't have the tiniest shred of sympathy - In fact, the opposite: It has a deep anger or hatred to anything that's so cruel and the opposite of life.

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/20/2021  

See Today’s video:

https://youtu.be/jw735dzk4go

 m027 023 Teves 11 ~ 15        

Questions for today:
How can I tell if somewhere within me, I am ok with another love?                        

You could love your health more than you like a cookie, or you could truly love your health.

What's the difference?

If you love your health more than you like a cookie, you might not even be tempted to cheat and eat the cookie, but it's a good cookie.

If you truly love your health, you look at the cookie and you say “I know what you do to people, you're revolting”

in the beginning of the Tanya it speaks about five different types of people.

In the middle is a type of person that's tempted by bad. They never do or even think about doing bad, but it's a daily struggle.

Above that is a [basic] ‘righteous person’: someone who's not even tempted to do bad because they love G-d so much, but in another situation the bad might be enticing.

Highest, is a ‘truly righteous person’: Someone that expresses their oneness with the Creator so much that even their animal soul - their yearning and desire - is ‘only’ for the Creator.

They look at anything that's a selfish deterrent to the Creator, and they feel “this is revolting”.

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/19/2021              

See today’s video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T29gmT3ztPA&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=23             

Additional thoughts:

In the opening chapter of the Tanya we brought together several sources from the Talmud and the Zohar that spelled out five different states of living as a Jew; fully righteous, righteous, intermediate, wicked, fully wicked.

In the intervening eight chapters we described the soul in detail.

We described how there are two souls each of which have ten components, divided into intellect and emotion. we spoke about how each soul has three types of clothing; thought, speech, and action.

We then described where in the body each Soul is headquartered, and how they struggle with each other.

We now circle back with this information to continue to describe the various titles. Now that we know the anatomy of the soul we can understand what each level means in detail.

 m026 023 Teves 11 ~ Teves 14

Questions for Today:

I have such passion when I’m doing things I am physically excited by. How can I have that same passion for good?

Today’s Tanya Thought:

We learned that the G-dly Soul doesn't just want the body to do good – it wants the animal soul to be a partner in doing G-dly things.

We've learned before, that the clothing of the Soul; the things that the soul thinks, the things that the soul does, those can be easily changed - but how do we get the actual animal soul itself to be an active partner in doing G-dly things?

From here we see that the things that the soul is involved in are not part of the actual soul. The soul itself is the innate ability to yearn for things, to lust for things.

If we could remove the soiled clothing - the desire for selfish or negative things - not only can we get the animal Soul as a partner in our G-dly pursuits, but more than that:

We know that human emotions are complex. Animals have simple, pure, emotions.

If we can get our animal Soul as a partner we can have a simple, pure, emotional relationship with the Creator.

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/18/2021                                      

See today’s video

https://youtu.be/dY5WZlvHu_4

m025 022 Teves 10 ~ Teves 13

Questions for today:

Where do my inner feelings of frustration and turmoil come from? Why do I often feel like I’m being pulled in directions that I don’t feel good about?

Yesterday we learned that the animal soul and the G-dly soul each have a headquarters in the body; one in the head and the other in the heart.

Today we learn that it's not a passive coexistence. Rather, it’s similar to the prophecy to our Matriarch Rebecca that her children will be struggling with each other.

Similarly, the two souls look at the body like a city, each wanting to be king. In fact, not only do they want to rule the body, they want to rule the other one as well. The soul doesn't just want that the body should never do anything bad and should only do good - it wants all of the passion, the temptation, the drive, of the animal Soul as an active partner.

Similarly, the animal soul wants the equal and opposite from the G-dly soul.

This desire of the animal Soul is not for nefarious reasons, it’s because only after overcoming that type of a challenge, can the G-dly Soul show its loyalty and its bond with the Creator.

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/17/2021                                      

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpHSHGM6z-Y&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=22            

m024 021 Teves 9 ~ Teves 12                        

See in blog: ChabadMed.com/TanyaBlog

Questions for today:

When we discuss the Soul, we are discussing the thing we call “Me”. Knowing that we have two souls, how does that play out when I think of myself?

Today’s Tanya continues to teach about human life.

We now know that there is a G-dly soul and there is an animal soul, and that both of them have ten different components which are divided into both intellect and emotion.

However, here is where the two are different. The animal soul is primarily emotional. Its headquarters in the left ventricle of the heart from where the blood is pumping out to the whole body.

From the heart, it extends through the entire body with a very important distribution center in the brain where it gets all types of design and character.

The brain is going to help figure out which things are important to be emotional about and what's not important to be emotional about.

The G-dly soul is the opposite. It is primarily intellectual, and its headquarters is in the brain. From there it spreads to the whole body - with a very important distribution center in the heart. There, the intellect is going to develop all different forms of emotion.                            

Study today’s Tanya in full

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/16/2021                                                                                      

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex7-HayXGrQ&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=21   

 m023b 020 Teves 8 ~ Teves 11 pt2  

Questions for today:

How do my actions, impact my Soul?

Today's Tanya talks about the afterlife. - Not the good one, the opposite, where our soul gets cleaned up to once again be one with the Creator.

There are different types of cleansing; One is called a “slingshot” where the soul goes back and forth from very a holy perspective, to a secular perspective, kind of like an esoteric exercise. This removes the spiritual stains we spoke about earlier where a person had pleasures that were permitted, but the person did them for selfish reasons.

Then there's the famous “heat”. This is to clean where person ate something that is completely not allowed in the Torah.

There is also a cleansing through “ice” to clean where the person was speaking things without any purpose, or any intent for the creator.

Of course, as we learned yesterday, this is all out of love, to allow a full homecoming of the Soul.

Today we learn a new perspective of something that we've learned before.  We had learned that by using intellect a person could have a very deep connection with the Creator. The same is true with the opposite; through intellect we can sow deep negative roots.

Therefor the Tanya tells us today that we should be very careful when we pursue advanced education. We should make sure we use it; either directly to be able to help more people, or to be able to earn more so we can use that to help more people, or we can use that education to actually understand the laws of the Torah better.                                                                                                      

Study today’s Tanya in full pt2:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/15/2020  

See Today’s video:    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V75YcYO4ANY&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=20             

Additional thoughts:

One lesson that stands out from the Tanya these few days is how powerful food is, both in the positive and for the opposite. Obviously, every thought speech or action that we do involves a relationship between the physical world and our Soul.

Food is unique in the sense that the moment we eat it the food becomes us. If the food is the type whose G-dly material is available for spiritual energy, then that will be part of who we are. And if it is not, then that will also become a part of us as well.

Today’s Tanya touches on how careful we need to be with education and our general intellectual pursuits.

This is expressing one pain that the prophet Yirmiyahu laments (Jer. 2:13) how not only the Jews “left the living waters”, but they also sought out “broken cisterns”.

Imagine many artists, each adding a flourish to a goblet – and one attempts to add a hole at the bottom. If an artist paints something ugly, it can be overshadowed by the beauty around it, much like if a person does something wrong, it can be overshadowed by extensive good.

If you make a hole in the glass, no matter how much you try to fill it, it will always be missing. This is similar to the harm within a person from intellectual misdirection. It can empty any positive effort.

m 023 pt1 019 Teves 7 ~ Teves 11 pt1          

Question for today:

When I do something, does it leave a mark?  

A common question is, do Jews believe in hell?

Not only do we believe it exists, it's actually a fundamental part of the Jewish faith.

However, our belief is different from other circles. Many say “you're a bad person you're going to a bad place”. In Judaism it’s the opposite - you're a good person, your soul is a part of G-d, and it's going to be going home.

However, considering what we learned about previously; the negativity, the true no-nos, or taking regular, permitted, things and using them for selfish reasons – these all have a stain, an impact.

In order for the soul to be able to express itself fully in a world of truth it's going to have to clean the stain.

We'll learn more about that tomorrow, but today we hear a fascinating exception. Rabeinu hakadosh who never had worldly pleasure, even for his pinky finger, will not need any cleansing.

What's fascinating about this exception is, we are taught that Rabbeinu Hakadosh was phenomenally wealthy and on his table there were always radishes, cucumbers, and lettuce - winter and summer - so what do we mean about him having no pleasure?

The Tanya doesn't mean you don't have luxury. It means that we never use it for selfish purposes.                                                                                            

Study today’s Tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=1/4/2020 

See today’s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vS6Ziq9kT4&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=19    

Additional thoughts:
The example that the Tanya uses today is from Rabbeinu Hakadosh who never had selfish worldly pleasure, even for his pinky finger.

Why would such an example be included in this book of the Tanya which is guidance for the average person?

However from the name, Rabbeinu Hakadosh, we see that he is our teacher. Meaning, all of the stories told about him in the Talmud are lessons for us, and we can all in some way relate to his style of living

m022 018 Teves 6 ~ Teves 10

Questions for today:

What if I don’t only measure myself by my impact? What if I respect myself as a Divine vehicle, and I measure the depth of G-dliness – or the opposite - that I get embroiled in?

When we discuss good and bad, it’s easy to fall in to the trap that “if I don’t hurt anyone, it’s all good”.

When we believe in creation, part of the belief is that every individual person has a responsibility and purpose. it’s as though we each have a key, if I don’t do my part to turn the key, I am to blame for everyone that is waiting outside in the cold.

With that in mind, today’s Tanya discusses two types of sexually inappropriate behavior; one personal, and one involving others.

Counterintuitively, with regards to the ‘level of impurity’, the personal one is worse. This is because there is no limit to the amount or to the type of depravity that a person can reach, alone. Alone, they have no one else to ask permission, don’t have to work on someone else’s schedule, and there is no shame of another person.

Obviously, on the flip side there is an entirely different measurement of bad when it involves another person. When someone else is involved, then even everything that we learned about hitting rock bottom and our negative actions becoming positive because of our change, doesn’t apply – it’s too late, once you impacted someone else, it’s entirely out of your control.

Study today’s tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/14/2021  

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3d_pHIFvVY&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=18               

Additional thoughts:

Over here, in describing different types of behavior, the Tanya describes inappropriate personal activity in very harsh terms. It’s important to note that this is not the focus of Chabad with regard to life guidance in this issue.

The general life approach is along the lines of how our mind can only do one thing at once. If we strive and make an effort to grow in the good, it will automatically prevent us from anything we should not be involved in.

On a rare occasion where the Rebbe discussed this issue, the Rebbe focused on the positive. The Rebbe pointed out the incredible light that illuminated the entire city of Jerusalem from the wicks made from the modesty garments of the priests that were worn with purity.

M021 017 Teves 5 ~ Teves 9

Questions for today:
Are the bad things that I’ve done a waste of that part of my life?

Today's Tanya touches on something that's at the forefront of current mental health.

The gist of the Tanya discusses what if we did something that we described as negative in the previous chapters.

If a person took something intermediate* and used it for bad, since it was permitted then, now we could turn around after the fact and use that energy for good.

What about the no-nos? We said they can't be used for good?

Today's mental health teaches that if a person is a true alcoholic how do you fix it? You take away the safety net. You don't call the boss and say they can't make it to work, you let them get fired.

Why? The Tanya explaines why the Talmud says that with repentance our “sins become merits”. This is because when a person is running ‘towards good’ they're not just running ‘a little slower’ than they're capable, it's a different ‘type’ of running than what they are able to do when they ‘run away from danger’.

Since it was hitting rock bottom, or it was the travesty of the sin, that gives a person that ability to run ‘that type of running’ therefore the the sin is a partner in the running and it becomes a merit.

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/13/2021                          

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzaIhwbBqQ8&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=17

*As described yesterday, the ‘intermediate’ level is “klipas noga”.

This is where good and bad are seamlessly blended in a thing or action that is ‘permitted’, but not commanded.

It is our actions which either define and elevate the good, or bring out and drag down the bad, in that thing or action.

M020 016 Teves 4 ~ Teves 8

Questions for today:
“good” and “bad” are easy; we’re told exactly what to do with them. Money, wine, nuclear energy expect something from us. Are they good? Are they bad? The answer is in the toughest place: the mirror.

Today’s Tanya Thought:

We've spoken about things that are completely good, such as the human soul which is an actual part of G-d. We spoke about things that are completely bad and no matter how much you want to use them as a vehicle get closer to G-d it's impossible.

Today we discuss ‘Noga’, which is in the middle. It has a little bit of bad and can be used entirely for bad. It has a little bit of good, and could be used entirely for good.

Most importantly, it's a conduit that we can use to go from one to the other.

This entity, “Klipas Noga”, is in the middle, not just because it has a little bit of both, but also because of the intensity of either.

Take a glass of wine. It has in it the potential for ‘bad’ but not so intense that it would veto the possibility of being used for good. It has inside of it the potential for ‘good’ but not so intense so as to veto the possibility being used for bad.

If so, which one is it?

That depends are the most dynamic of all of G-d's creation – you - and the way that you use it.

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/12/2021                    

See today’s video:     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg-gZPNjyv8&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=16                                                                                                    

Additional thoughts:

We are using the Term “Klipa” to describe a non-positive G-dly creative source, as well as the resulting non-positive Creations that result.

This word literally means “peel” or, “shell”.

Think of the peel of a fruit, or the shell of an egg. We remove it and throw it out. We don’t eat it.

However, it despite being non-edible, it is important for the actual fruit.

In this same way, the non-G-d-positive elements that we are describing, whether the natural ones we are learning about today, or the negative ones we learned about yesterday, are all created as an important aspect of the world that G-d intended.

This understanding of all worldly material leads to two important types of work that are constantly necessary; “separation” and, “elevation”.

Considering that all of the potential for good and bad are completely blended as one, this job is not easy.

We need to first differentiate eg. between the taste of meat or wine, that we are experiencing for pleasure, and distinguish that from the energy or impact that it can make on us.

It is then up to us to use the good for the potential that it has, to make the world a better place.

m019  015 Teves 3 – Teves 7 

Questions for today:

How far does intent go, in making what I am doing, Good?

If there are things that are off limits – always – why do they exist in a world Created to facilitate our connection to the Creator?

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/11/2021

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIYVdCHWPEI&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=15

Today’s Tanya Thought:

A little girl goes over to her father with little glass of tea from her doll’s tea set.

The father takes this adorable little cup, lifts it up to his lips, and he's about to drink it, when his wife says, wait! there's only one source of water in the whole house that she could reach!!...

Yesterday, we learned that just like in a relationship there are many things that we do which, when we're appreciative of our spouse, or humble to our spouse, they are beautiful and romantic - but that same thing, when we are ignoring our spouse is actually harmful.

Today we learn that not everything works that way, with a potential to be special if done correctly. There are a lot of things that G-d created that are absolute no-no's, and there is no way to use them for our mission, or to connect to the Creator.

At the same time, the Tanya teaches us that those are also created by G-d, and mentioned in the Torah, because they still facilitate our relationship to the Creator - when we ‘don't’ do them.

M 016 012b Tanya Chitas teves 2 – teves 6

Questions for today:
What is it about humility to the Creator that is not only a ‘good thing’, but so fundamental that all of good and bad are defined by it?

Study today’s Tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/10/2021

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGRpUIHQ0RY
 

Today’s Tanya Thought:

Why all this focus on humility to the Creator?

The Talmud (Brachos 63a) says that there is a statement on which all of the principles of the Torah can be founded: “bechol dereochecho doeihu”, “know G-d in all of your ways”.

Why are we here? What is the Torah’s perspective?

It is not entirely accurate to simply say that we are put into the world to do G-d’s commandments. The Reality is far beyond that.

The Torah’s perspective is that G-d created the entire universe as a complete Divine plan.

So any act, any moment that we take, not just ‘selfishly’ but without looking at the bigger picture at G-d’s plan, is taking it out of the oneness of G-d.

This also helps us understand G-d’s creation of ‘good’ and ‘the opposite’ through G-d’s ‘inner’ and ‘external’ creative power:

Think of yourself, of your imaginary power when you are thinking of your sports hero creating a play and compare that to your own imagination in that same picture of the opposing team which you are thinking of just to make the play more challenging.

M017  014 Teves 2 ~ Teves 5

Questions for Today:

Where does my selfish drive come from?

How do I define good and bad?

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/9/2021

See Today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKEqDVIf-p0&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=14                            

Today’s Tanya Thought:

Today the Tanya introduces balance.

Everything that we learned before about the intelligence and emotions of the soul pulling us towards the Creator has an equal and opposite power pulling us selfishly for ourselves.

It’s interesting because you can see that every single person, rich or poor, always has a balance when they wake up between an opportunity to do good, or bad.

This concept of good or bad, how do we define it?

A comedian says that when you have children, it’s very easy to go on a luxurious vacation - all you need to do is anything at all without your kids.

It sounds funny regarding kids, but regarding a relationship, it’s very true.

What is a romantic part of  relationship? Anything you do with your spouse. What is harmful in a relationship? Anything that you do that ignores your spouse.

With regards to the Creator; ‘good’ is anything that we do that is humbly appreciative of the fact that we are created. And ‘bad’ is anything that we do ignoring the privilege and responsibility that was given to us with Creation.

Additional thoughts:

When we described how the G-dly soul has intellect which then gives birth to emotion, we first mention the intellect and then emotion.

Over here where we describe the animal soul, we first mention the emotion and then we say that it comes from the intellect of the animal soul.

This change in order is because even though the G-dly and the animal soul are equal and parallel, their core focus is different.

The G-dly soul is primarily intellectual, and the intellect then gives birth to emotion. The animal soul is primarily emotional, and the intellect is then discussed as the source.

When studying the G-dly soul we discussed the 'clothing' of the soul, the thought, speech, and action. We learned then that while less 'spiritual', these are actually closer to G-d than the soul's components on their own.

The same is true here. A person 'thinking' a negative thought is pulled lower than the animalistic element of the soul where the thought is coming from.

m014b 013 Teves 1 ~ 5 (pt2)

Because of the difference in the calendar between a regular and a leap year, we have two thoughts for today’s Tanya

Questions for today:
How does a question in ‘G-d’s Torah become ‘my question’? How does a Divine spark become ‘my idea’?

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/8/2021

See today’s video:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC97euEUvhQ&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=13

Today’s Tanya Thought (pt2) :

There is a story about someone who came home late from yeshiva. Thinking that he was eating some food his wife had left out for him, he actually ate the laundry that was left to soak all night.

When he heard about it in the morning, he told his wife, “I thought that the meat was a little tough”.

When we think about the relationship that we have with the Creator, it's important to understand the difference between ‘clothing’, and ‘food’.

When we do a mitzvah; light a Shabbos candle, put on tefillin, it's like ‘clothing’. We are enveloped in G-dliness - but the candle, the tefillin, they're G-dly, and we are us.

When we discuss the relationship we have to HaShem through the gift that G-d gave us of the study of Torah, it's different.

Our body breaks down the Divinity - that is one with G-d – that is inside the Torah, and we absorb it.

It's not that the Torah is the Torah, and we're us – Us, and the Torah which is Divine, become one.                                           

m016 012 Kislev 30 ~ Teves 4 (pt1)

Because of the difference in the calendar between a regular and a leap year, we have two thoughts for today’s Tanya

Questions for today:
Every act that I do can be; a way to behave in a G-dly way, and a connection to/relationship with G-d. How deeply can we connect?

Study today’s tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/8/2021 

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NF2ypILbUQ&list=PLFZQPK6u -zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=12  

Today’s Tanya Thought (pt 1):

Who would you give your social security number to?

You would become very vulnerable. Anyone with it  would have access to your credit, they could take out a loan.

There are certain things that are much more intimate than that. There are certain things that if we share with somebody, they ‘have us’. We become so vulnerable, they could destroy us.

They can embarrass us with that information, make us cry – or, used differently it could be used to make us stop crying.

Elijah the prophet says “lais machashava tfisa bei” “we cannot grasp G-d”.

The Tanya teaches us that this is the case naturally, however, G-d did give us a method with which we could grasp G-d. When G-d gave the Torah, G-d wasn't only ‘teaching us ideas’, G-d put G-d's very self into the Torah, and handed it to us.

This means that when we are grappling with an idea in the Torah and it is surrounding our minds, we're being surrounded by G-d. When we get the idea and our mind ‘grasps it’ we are ‘grasping G-d’.

When we do this, we are completely enveloped by it, and we envelop it completely - and embrace such that there is nothing like this anywhere else in the world.

m014 011 Kislev 29 ~ Teves 3

View in blog: ChabadMed.com/TanyaBlog

Questions for today:

How would I feel if a dear friend or relative decided the meaningfulness of my hug based on the brand of my coat?

When I measure my time used to connect to the Creator, do I ask how deeply the Creator is imbued in the embrace, or how “spiritual” I measure the effort?
What would I do to earn the portion of Heaven of history's greatest personalities? – what if I can have it in my hands now?

Study today’s Tanya in full:

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/7/2021

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvN_JB61V4k&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=11

Tanya Thought for Today:

A company in Japan recently invented a pillow that has an extension coming out that feels like an arm, so that when you are sleeping alone it feels like someone is embracing you.

This company is confused. It isn’t the ‘arm’ that gives the love, it’s the love that extends the arm.

When you embrace somebody while wearing ten pieces of clothing, you are not any farther from embracing them - it's what's inside that counts.

Yesterday when we learned that the most intimate depth of the Creator is found when you find the part that that Creator extended Himself the most to create. It is in tiny, finite things where you find the Essence of the Creator

This means that when the ‘clothing’ of our soul; our thought, speech, and action, engrosses itself in tiny finite things – for example, on Chanukah, our thought is thinking praise and thanks to the Creator for the miracles,  our mouth is saying finite words to say praise of the Creator, and our hands are lighting a tiny little flame - the clothing of our soul is engrossed completely and embraced in the essence of the Creator.                                                                                                       

Additional thoughts:

To get an idea just how precious and meaningful our physical commandments are, we look at the Mishnah, Ethics of our Fathers, 4:17.

“one moment of repentance and good deeds in this (physical) world is more beautiful than all of the world to come”.

In the (spiritual) world to come souls truly perceive the meaning and divinity of the Torah that they studied while in this world.

However, no matter how divine an experience that is, the soul perceiving it is still grasping a defined ‘concept’.

This has no comparison to a person in the physical world, embracing the Creator’s very Self, through the physical act of a mitzvah.                                                           

M 012 011 Tanya Chitas kislev 29 – Teves 2

Questions for today:
How is it that when my soul wants a lift, it hitches a ride on a finite body?

Study today’s tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/6/2021

See today’s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTz8FzcEZ7w&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=10

how do you find the owner of a company?

When you walk into a conference room and you see a person wearing jeans, that's probably the person with the highest authority. Or, the one that can call you over and say “I know it's against all the rules, but for you I'm taking out the nice China”.

We were speaking about the soul; the ‘components’ of the soul and the ‘clothing’ of the soul. It would seem like the components are more spiritual, more identifiable parts of the soul itself, and higher than the clothing; the thought, speech, and action, which are dealing with finite physical things.

The truth is when we think of the Divine we think of G-d at great, infinite, and that's how we describe Divine - those are the ‘rules’ of Divinity. But where do we find the actual ‘owner’, the Creator Himself?
When all those rules are broken and we have a physical world.

With that in mind, it would be the clothing of the soul; the thought, the speech, the ability to act in a tiny, finite, way is the part of the soul that has the greatest relationship to the creator’s very self.

Additional thoughts:

Today’s Tanya explains why our sages compare the Torah to water, based on what we just learned:

Sunlight also ‘descends’ into the world, and there is also a “chain of ‘evolutionary’ creation” forming physical reality. Neither match the Torah’s ‘descent’ to us.

The sunlight that reaches us is a ray, not the sun. With the “evolutionary chain”; similar to a teacher imparting wisdom to a student, each stage is reduced in volume and depth.

The water that reaches the lowest level is the actual water that was at the top of the mountain, unchanged.

In ordinary creation and formulation of the physical world, there is a “chain of evolution”.

Each stage of additional definition, physicality, each ‘world’ so to speak, is a ring that is lower than the one above it, and above the link below.

Think of a series of teachers each explaining a complex idea to someone on a lower education level; Einstein to a conference of scientists, the scientists to a presentation of university professors, a university professor to their lab, a lab scientist to a high school class, a high school student tutoring an elementary school student, the elementary student explaining it to their younger sibling.

Eventually the lesson becomes so defined and visible, it is done with play dough, or a crayon drawing.

However, each level is lower than the one above.

Regarding the Torah, today’s Tanya uses the term: “misham yordah”, it descended “from there”.

The Torah we learn is direct from G-d, unchanged, even as it is compressed to fit us.

[not to be confused with the scientific concept of evolution, the description above is a constant. It is perpetually present in any instance of a physical expression from a spiritual source]

M011 008b Tanya Chitas kislev 28 (b) – teves 1

See in Blog:

ChabadMed.com/TanyaBlog

Questions for today:

How does a Torah thought, or a dollar to a poor person, unite the flame of my soul with the Creator?

Study today’s Tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/5/2021

See today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnJO5r2gPPQ

Today’s Tanya Thought:
Let’s work to better understand this idea, that when I dress myself in the thought, speech, and action of the study of Torah, the observance of mitzvos, I could lift my soul up and become one with the Creator.

To do this, I have to wrap my mind around something that's not just above our intellect but out of the realm of physical existence:

When I learn information I get something new. Every time I read a book I become a different person. However, when we discuss the Creator - of whom time and space begin to exist - the Creator who is singular without any type of change or any form of components, that doesn't happen.

The Creator doesn't learn information, the information is the Creator. The Creator doesn't have a desire, the desire is the Creator.

The fact that the Creator could present that to us in the form of thought, speech, and action which we could dress ourselves with, is a gift of ‘clothing’ that the Creator is giving to us, for us to put on, to connect to the Creator.

M 011 008b Tanya Chitas kislev 27 – 30

Questions for today:

Which part is me, and which part is what I’m doing?
Am I aware of when the two are separated? Can I tell when I feel connected but I don’t connect, or when I do acts of connectivity, but I’m not present, I’m not infusing the acts with emotion?

Study today’s tanya in full:
https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/4/2021

See today’s video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlV_Twzx32E

In today's tanya we learn a little more about what we said about the components, or parts, of the soul - and the clothing the soul wears.

We said that the soul is made up of intellect and emotion. When the soul’s intellect wants to interact with the world, it delves into the inspiration, the philosophy, the right and wrong of the Torah.

When the emotion - the love, the desire to connect to the creator, or, the awe, the embarrassment, the fear of being disconnected from the creator, wants to interact with the world, it uses the 613 things we can say or do - which we call the mitzvos.

This also works in the reverse. If a person fulfills one of the commandments but doesn't love the creator, doesn't want to connect, it's like a clothing without a person inside, like a body without a soul.

 
Additional thoughts for today:

We are using the 613 Commandments as the platform to describe the interaction of the Soul with the world.

This is not just because the 613 Commandments are our favorite subject of study.

In actuality, the world as we see it is it result and an embodiment of the Creator’s visualization of a playground to interact with His children.

Originally, there was only the Creator. First the Creator desired a relationship with his children, then the creator of visualized the Torah and 613 Commandments. From this, the world developed.

Every possible thought, verbalization, or action in the world is somehow an expression the 613 (620) elements that are at play in these potential interactions with the Creator.

Fun fact:

"yesh" the Hebrew  word that describes reality, when calculated numerically both from the creator to us, and then again back to the Creator, equals 620...

M 011 008b Tanya Chitas kislev 27 30 

m010 008 Kislev 26/Kislev 28

In Today’s Message:

-       Link to Video

-       Questions for today

-       Link to full Tanya

-       Today’s Tanya Thought

-       Additional thoughts

o   “Chochmo” and “Bina”, a well and a river

o   Our parallel to G-dliness is organic: we are expressions of the Divine.

Today’s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k7aalQJeOw&list=PLFZQPK6u-zSBls9Hwx3P5vKI_BRnjBvHe&index=8

Questions for today:

How often do I “clear my thoughts”, and open my mind to a completely new idea?

Regarding which topics will my thoughts stimulate and ‘give birth to’ emotions? Are those the topics that I am most attached to? Am I proud of which things I am, or am not, attached to?

Study today’s Tanya in full:               

https://www.chabadmed.com/dailystudy/tanya.asp?tdate=12/2/2021

Today’s Tanya Thought:

Yesterday we learned that in order to interact with the world, the soul has ten components; three intellectual and six-plus-one emotional.

How does this work?

The first component is the ability for the soul, through humility, to have a seminal inclination of something it had no knowledge of before.

After this, it has the intellectual capacity to, like a baby in the womb, extrapolate every detail from that insight.

This then gives birth.

When a person uses that intellectual capacity to think - For example, to think of the vastness of the universe and how the creator makes every single detail of the world, it creates a humble awe of the Creator: we’ll call that ‘fear’. Then, a burning desire to connect to the Creator: We’ll call that ‘love’

But the birth doesn't happen automatically. If the person was thinking all of that in a detached way, it is not going to have an emotional result. However, if a person uses the third intellectual capacity “knowledge” - in the biblical sense, the ability to think in a ‘connected’, compelling, way - it will give birth to the love and to the fear and to the entire emotional spectrum that follows.

Additional thoughts:

“Chochmo” and “Bina”, a well and a river.

Today’s Tanya is foundational in that it touches on a distinction that runs through all of creation. This distinction finds its self expressed in any description of creativity, as well as any clarification of feminine/masculine, seminal/gestational entities.

The explanation of the distinction between “chochmo” and “Bina”, “wisdom” and “knowledge”, would, and does, fill bookshelves.

One parable that is used in Chassidus is the distinction between a well, and a river.

The well is where the water comes from, but it has no length or width, it just is.

The river doesn’t have anything of its own, but it gives the water it’s full reach and impact.

Our parallel to G-dliness is organic: we are expressions of the Divine.

In today’s Tanya we are using examples of intellect to understand the soul. To take it farther we are studying the workings of the soul, to understand the creator.

Even farther, we often use the same Divine principles here, to understand how the world, and people, work.

This principle is based on a verse (job 19:26) ומבשרי אחזה אלו-ה and from my flesh I see G-dliness.

But it’s important when we study this to realize that the parallel between what we see here and what we learn above, is not simply imitation.

In fact, what we are seeing is a revelation of what is above us. The reason why this works, is because the world that we live in and we understand is not only created from, but it is an expression of, the deeper spiritual realm.