Tanya - Second Perek - Part 1

2:10 Remember, what did we say about the Nefesh HaBahamis? It's the soul that animates you, right? So the fact that we're all animated, doing things, living our life, that's a function of our Nefesh HaBahamis, which came into our body the moment we were born. So it's first. The Nefesh Hashem is what makes you uniquely Jewish. You understand? Up until your nefesh ha-sheinus, there's nothing fundamentally different about you. You have a nefesh ha-behamis, and a Gentile has a nefesh ha-behamis. The only difference was in degrees, not in the actual substance. It's where it came from. But be'etzim, the nefesh ha-behamis, is the soul that animates you, just like by a Gentile. This is the soul that makes you uniquely a Jew. It comes into your body, if you're male, when you're 13 years old, if you're female, when you're 12 years old. So if somebody asks you, why do you get bar mitzvahed when you're 12 years old, why do you get bat mitzvahed when you're 12 years old, bar mitzvahed when you're 13 years old, what's the answer? Because that's when you got your second soul, the soul that makes you uniquely Jewish.

3:12 Up until that point, you didn't have it. All you were doing was preparing, for the time when you have it. And that's the mitzvah of chinuch. Does that make sense? So you see, remember I told you guys the Altarevah always goes internal? An external way of looking at it would be your Bar Mitzvot. Now you're Chayiv in Mitzvot. That's the symptom. You understand? That's what's happening outside. A Chossid would say, I'm Chayiv in Mitzvot now, because I have specifically a Jewish soul. Now I have my Nefesh Hashem. Mikey? Okay, I thought you had a question. Yeah, answer. Does the Briss Milah have anything to do with this. No. No, Briss Milah is the rectification of the body. Not specifically of the uniquely Jewish soul. Not anything to do with the Bahamas? There's nothing internal about Briss Milah. No, it's not Nefesh. Of course there's something internal. What I mean today is it's not Nefesh HaLokis oriented. It's Nefesh HaBahamas oriented. It's the completion of the body. Yeah, now Mikey.

4:14 Before we turn 13, that's when we get the second. Like, what happened before that. Good question. So, before you turned 13 years old, you were preparing, right? We knew you were going to get a Nefesh Hashemis. So, there is a mitzvah mid-derabbanon, not mid-do reisa. There is a mitzvah mid-derabbanon to prepare for when you get there. So, the second you get it, you're obligated in mitzvos. So, if you turned 13 years old, and you're like, and you were never taught anything, and now you're obligated in mitzvos because you are endowed with a uniquely Jewish soul that has a uniquely Jewish mission, as we will discuss, so you wouldn't know what to do with it. So, it's like, if I bought you a tool, the tool might be a very powerful tool, right? The problem is, as powerful as that tool is... You don't know what to do with it. It doesn't really help you. So there's a mitzvah, a banan, to teach you what to do with that tool so that when you get the tool, you'll know what to do with it. You understand.

5:10 Is there a way that someone doesn't get that. No. Well, they don't get it if they're a Gentile. I mean, if you're a Jew. Yes. Every Jew. Correct. No matter what. And not only no matter what, Mikey, you can never lose this soul. Seriously? Okay? So is it possible for a Jew to stop being Jewish? They can stop acting Jewish. Right? But, correct. Because it's you. It's fundamentally you. Okay? Okay. So, it's your second soul. Why is it your second soul, guys? Because you get it second. Once you get that second soul, now you're obligated to do the things that come along with that second soul. So beforehand, did your mitzvahs count? Nope. Because it was all a prep. You understand? So when you get bar mitzvahed, now it's real. You're in the game. Right? So it's like, if you were playing t-ball, that's good. Right? But until,

6:13 I'll give you a better example. Forget t-ball. When you're shooting around, right? So shooting around is great. It's fun. But you don't get points when you're shooting around. When do you get points? When the clock starts. Until the time the clock ends, you get points. The clock starts on the mission of Judaism, from the moment you're born in the sense that now we have to prepare you. But from the time that you're 13 years old, now you've been endowed with a uniquely Jewish soul. Up until then, you just had a soul that had a Jewish aspect to it because it was a mixture. of good and evil, of tov and ra. Now you have a uniquely Jewish soul. Michael. So you said that before you're 13, like your affairs and mitzvah don't count. So do they count for Gentiles? Because they never get the... Better question is, do they have mitzvos and averos.

7:00 The seven mitzvos. Okay, good. So that's a good question. How does the seven mitzvos with Enoach work? Because those seven mitzvos are not coming from a uniquely Gentile soul because they don't have a second soul. It's a byproduct of the first type of soul that they have, and God willing, we're going to answer that question. Yeah, Tuvia. Is this going to explain why parents are responsible for all the errors that their children do. Yeah, because basically it's our responsibility to educate our children so that they learn to behave because what happens is before we can make the uniquely Jewish jump, we have a behaviorist model. Prepare yourself, train, get that muscle memory to behave in a particular way. If I'm 10 years old and I don't have the notion of self-control, right? So I want to eat Milfix even though I just ate Flashex.

7:54 Or I want to eat something that's not kosher. So when you get to be 13, you're just going to continue eating the not kosher thing. So the parent's responsibility is to train the child in the awareness of the ego, right? Just because you want something doesn't mean you get it, right? Now, that's not a popular thing to say because we naturally bristle at that. We say, well, what do you mean? I want the thing, right? But if you think about it, right, that's childish ego, right? A healthy person understands I don't get everything I want whenever I want it. So that's the mitzvah of Chenoch. To teach the child, I want to sleep. I don't want to go to shul. I want to sleep. I understand. And yet, it's our responsibility to wake up in the morning, to calibrate our conscience with the consciousness of God. Make sense? Okay, so far so good? Okay, so the first thing we learned about the uniquely Jewish soul is that it comes second, okay? The second thing we learned is as follows. It is a piece of God, literally. Now, what does that mean it's a piece of God, literally? Because God does not have pieces, okay?

8:57 So it goes as follows. When we describe the uniquely Jewish soul, what's called the nefesh alokis, when we describe the nefesh alokis, as a piece of God, we don't mean to speak about the soul. Rather, what we mean to speak about is the relationship between the soul and God. And here, the relationship between the soul and God is like the relationship between a ray of the sun and the sun itself. So when the sun is shining, what comes out of the sun? The rays of the sun. That means, what's the relationship between the rays and the sun? There is what's called an essential relationship. If there is no sun, there are no rays. So what are you? You are the natural emanation of godliness. That's what it means to have a uniquely Jewish soul. Does that make sense? Yeah? So nobody is saying that you literally have a piece of God inside of you.

9:59 What we mean to say is, you have an essential relationship with God. Which means that there is an advantage, if you want to look at it that way, there's an advantage that a Jew has over a Gentile. The relationship that a Gentile has with God is that a Gentile is like creation. Because remember, what do we call the nations of the world? What do we call them? Not Gentiles, what do we call them? Nations of the world, the umos haolam. So they are created, as opposed to the Jewish soul is not created, as we're going to see. It is the function of an essential relationship between the ray and the sun. Clear? Everyone got this? Mikey. Is there one soul that's stronger than the other. When you say stronger, what do you mean? Like has more of an impact on you? Both souls, as we're going to see, have a tremendous impact in very different areas of your life. And these souls are very often at odds with each other, right? So my Nefesh HaBahamas has dominion over some things, my Nefesh HaLokis has dominion over other things, and they're in a massive clash. And life is about determining which soul wins. And we're going to discuss that at length. Roy, where did I lose you.

11:14 About... I'm trying to think, probably when you're explaining what's the difference between a Gentile soul and... So remember, a Gentile has one soul, not two. That one soul, we said, comes from Sharklipos Atmeos. It doesn't come from Klipas Noga. So already there was a difference. Klipas Noga was like the Eitz Hadass, right? And it's an admixture of Tov and Ra. So on a physical level, on a human level, right, Gentiles and Jews could look the same. Because we both have an animated soul. So if you probe a little bit deeper, what will you see? That a Jewish Nefesh HaBahamas and a Gentile Nefesh HaBahamas are a little bit different. Because theirs is Sharklipos Atmeos, which means it's naturally selfish, right? Naturally geared towards doing things only for their own sake, not naturally giving. Though they could obviously be very giving, and all of us in this room know Gentiles that are. But the Jewish soul is more naturally giving. That's when it comes to the Nefesh HaVahamas. Now we're talking about a second soul, the Nefesh Elokis. Okay? This is the soul that's uniquely godly. It's like a ray of the sun. You see a sun shining, the sun has rays, that's the soul. This soul is not.

12:23 created, it's just manifested. It's the essential relationship that exists between the second soul. Which is the good soul. They're both good. Because I need my, Nefesh HaVahamas to animate my body. Right? It's important that we are able to do all the things that we do. So me, doing all the actions. That's Nefesh HaVahamas. So what's my mission as a people. Ah, we're going to see. But right now we're just getting introduced to the concept. But you see what Roy is bringing out is a very important point. My Nefesh HaVahamas is going to lead me through my day. What role does the Nefesh Elokis play within the physical actions of my day? Very important question and we're going to see. Tobia. You say once again why Roy is a Nefesh HaVahamas. When I say elevates, I want to be clear. I don't mean it makes us better, okay? Jews are chosen. Chosen means we have a particular mission. And in order to fulfill that mission, we need particular tools. So, for example, if somebody's working in the IT department, right, and they get, let's say, a better computer, right, you wouldn't say that they're more important than the CEO that doesn't have that computer, right? It's just that the nature of their job requires it.

13:40 different type of computer, right? So the CEO might have 10 secretaries. Why? Because he's got much more going on. So it's different functions for different missions. What makes a Jew Jewish is the uniquely godly soul that he has. It's what allows us to fulfill a uniquely Jewish mission. A Gentile doesn't need a uniquely Jewish soul because he has a totally different mission. You understand? His mission is more worldly and our mission is more godly. Now you might say, well, godly sounds better than worldly. I'm not so sure, as we will see. Godly and worldly have. to work together. So the Jew is going to be on one end of the spectrum and the Gentile is going to be on another end of the spectrum. And ultimately, they're going to have to work together. Ezra. If we are the rays of the sun, we're both and non-Jews are both getting to show us as rays.

14:42 The soul that's the Nefesh HaBahamis is not a ray of the sun. It's a creation like any other creation. Just like this table is created. And this table has that which makes it come into being. The Nefesh HaBahamis is like that. It's of the world. It's the Nefesh Eloquis that makes it uniquely godly because it's not created. That's when it's a natural connection. What does that mean. It would be the difference between a father and a son versus a father who's a carpenter who made a table. Make sense? The table is the creation of the person. The son's relationship with the father is essential. Both came from the father, but they have two very different relationships. Yeah? But it's created from Klippas Noga, as we're going to see. Okay? So far so good? Okay. Now, this Jewish soul that comes into your body second, page Pei Beis, what is it identified with? Kamosha Kosev, as it says in the Pesach, you all know this Pesach, you've read this Pesach many times before, now you're going to know what this Pesach means. Vayipach be'apav nishmas chayim. What does that mean? God blew into man life.

16:09 So other Marishim, was other Marishim Jewish? No. No, but we took over, so to speak, when the mission of Judaism, which I'm going to explain what this means, when the mission of Judaism came into being, it was a takeover for other Marishim. In other words, it goes as follows. Other Marishim sinned. Before Adam HaRishon sinned, there was no need for Judaism. It didn't exist. It didn't even make sense. How could there be Judaism if there's no sin? The whole mission of Judaism is to rectify the sin of Adam HaRishon. So we take over, so to speak, the soul of Adam HaRishon. Yeah. There's no sin in the mitzvahs. No. And by the way, there were no mitzvahs for Adam HaRishon, right? All he had to do was sit there. Just don't eat. Good question. But the point, remember, the whole point of a mitzvah, right? Again, we're jumping ahead of ourselves a little bit. But the whole point of a mitzvah is to reveal godliness in the world. At that point, God was already revealed in the world.

17:14 But sooner or later, someone's going to do it there. And that's why Adam HaRishon did it sooner. To do it on purpose. Yes. It's very important to know that. Once we get to a... Once we get to a very big... Once we get to a deep understanding of why the world was created, it's going to start to make perfect sense to you why Adam and Eve did what he did. In a certain way. He understood that in order for the world to have its mission fulfilled, the world needed to go lower. So he brought the world lower. Who says it was a punishment? That was part of it. Ah, very good question. Good, good. You're all saying very good. But yes, Adam HaRishon wasn't actually punished. If you look carefully at the Pesachim, you'll see that what he got was exactly what he did. Everything was just what we call in Hebrew a polioze. Everything has an equal and opposite reaction. You punch something, it moves.

18:22 Adam HaRishon, his averos, or his avera, lined up perfectly with the things that happened to him. If you look at the nachash, chava, and Adam HaRishon, everything worked out perfectly. And then from there you go to Qayyim and Hevel, and you see it's an unbelievable genesis. Right? Even though... Genesis is not the actual word, it's Baratius, right? But there's an unbelievable genesis from that original sin, how the world went lower, and why ultimately we're going to explain that lower is a good thing, not a bad thing. Okay, so, back inside. Kimosha kosov v'yipach pa'apov nishmas chayim, and v'ata nefachtobi, right? That God blows life into Adonai Rishon. Now what does that mean, that God blows life into Adonai Rishon? When you blow, listen to what he says, man de nafach, the person that blows, mi tochei nafach, he blows from within, pirish, mi tochei yuso, u mi pni mi yuso, he's blowing from his essence. She tochei yuso pni mi yusa chayis sheba adam,

19:26 motzi b'nefichaso bekoach, that the essence and the life force of a person is found in the potential of God's breath, which means as follows. Right now when I'm talking, is that a deep breath? I'm breathing, but is that a deep breath? No. But when you blow into a balloon, right? Let's say it's a really hard balloon. What do you have to do? You take a deep breath, and then you blow. What are you blowing? What's deep inside of you, you're blowing into the thing. So when we say, that G-d blew life into Adam and Elisha, what type of breath, the Altar of Ebb is explaining, what type of breath went in? A godly breath. A godly breath, meaning G-d invested of Himself, into Adam and Elisha, right? So the relationship between the breath and G-d is essential. Yeah, why do you mess up. We'll see, because even though, again, it's a very, very long conversation, but even though God blew himself into Adam and Mary shown, the world, and it was in a state of balance, there still existed something called falsehood. And for a particular reason, Adam chose falsehood, as we're going to explain.

20:42 Why was it balanced? Everything was good back then. Ah, not exact. Remember, there was no such thing as good and bad. At that point, there was only true and false. There was only one tree whose essence was both good and bad. And Adam ate from that tree. When Adam ate from the tree, good and bad went from being outside... to being inside. Right? Because once he sinned by bringing it in, he brought inside, Tovra. Up until that point, Tovra was outside and it was only in one tree. But how did he sin. when it's not inside? Good question. What was the mistake that Abba Marishan made? Excellent question. The Rambam and Moran were discussed. What exactly was the snake doing. The snake wasn't bad then. If there was no bad. The snake was bad. That's what we thought. But I don't think it actually was a snake. Maybe it was just a Yetzirah. A Yetzirah. The snake.

21:39 if you look, the snake, if you look in the Pesukim and you look in the Midrash HaChazal, it seems that the snake was not the animal that we know it is today. The snake was, not a person and not an animal. It was the highest of the animal kingdom. So if you look in, if you look carefully in the Pesukim and you look in the Midrash and you'll see that Abba Marishan was not a person, had relations with every single animal because he was trying to see where was his pair. And there was one animal that he really wanted to have a relationship with him. and that was the Nachash. And it didn't work. The Nachash was very, very disturbed by that because it meant that Adam HaRishon, because he had a uniquely godly soul, was not part of the animal kingdom. He couldn't find his pair there. So...

22:25 That was before Chava existed. Correct. And that's why only after Adam HaRishon names, in quotation marks, all of the animals, is Chava born. Because only once, Adam HaRishon can't join with anybody else does G-d have to pull from his essence, and create his counterpart. Why did Hashem make him have to, like, try all that. Oh, good, very good. Very good, very good. Wait, wait, wait. You're saying he tried all the animals, just including the snake. Including the snake. And why is the snake... It's a very, very good... No, but the snake was the most intelligent, the Pasuk says. It had intelligence like a person, but it was not a person. It was an animal. It was the highest of the animal kingdom. Which is why part of the punishment of the snake was that it would be clapped on the head. It lost its intelligence. So the snake, ultimately, what did the snake try to do? Who does the snake try to seduce? Chava. Now the story makes sense. Why was the snake trying to seduce? Correct. The snake.

23:28 wanted to be where Chava was. There was a... Oh, very good question. Very good question. That's a very deep shiur I gave a couple years ago. Not for now. Female. The Eitz Hadass. The Eitz Hadass was the only. tree. Because God created all of the trees. Adam Rishon could eat from. In fact, Chazal said that he even would have been allowed to eat from the Eitz Hadass. But in order to eat from the Eitz Hadass, first he needed to bring himself into the Eitz Hachayim. And only then could he take in the Eitz Hadass, because the Eitz Hadass has to exist within the context of the Eitz Hachayim. The Eitz Hachayim was Shabbos. So had Adam Rishon waited until Shabbos, he would have been able to eat from the Eitz Hadass. But because Adam Rishon did not wait until Shabbos,

24:30 he was eating from the Eitz Hadass without the Eitz Hachayim, which is why immediately after he eats from the Eitz Hadass, what does Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He throws him out of the Gan, and he says, we have to protect the Eitz Hachayim, because now it's dangerous. If you bring the Eitz Hachayim, it's like... beer than whiskey, beer than, what is it? It's whiskey than, how does it go? Whiskey than wine, you'll be fine. Wine than whiskey, you've never been sick or something like that. So it's like, if you bring in, that's not the way it goes, I'm forgetting the phrase, but it's when you bring in the Yitzchayim after the Yitzhadas, it's very dangerous because then you live for eternity. with this messed up thing inside of you. So our job as Jews is to rectify the sin of the Yitzhadas. That's why we have the Torah which is called, Yitzchayim Hilam HaChazikim Ba, right? And so we replace the Yitzchayim, we replace the Yitzchayim with Torah and then the Yitzhadas could come in. So far so good? Yeah, Rafi.

25:24 I have two questions. First of all, before the Yitzhadas there was no such thing as that. There was no such thing as immoral attraction. There was no such thing as immoral attraction because there was no such thing as morality. So sexuality was seen through the lens of true and false. Only once only once Adhamarishan took Tov and Ra inside of himself, sexuality played a much more prominent role because now we went from No, it was a question, it was like a true-false question. It was like, where do I fit? It was like a puzzle. piece. So he tried it and then figured out it was false. And then the snake was upset that it was false. Right. And also, do we know where the God took place like today in the world. Like where the Yitzhak Haim is? That's a good question. That's a very, very long question. Yeah. So Rabbi, the Torah is called.

26:12 Yitzhak Haim? Yeah. Actually, the Torah is not called Yitzhak Haim. Yitzhak Haim. Eitz Chayim. So the same way the tree was called Eitz Chayim. The tree was called Eitz Chayim. Chayim. Why is that? Because the Torah is from the tree. That's right. Because the Torah was from the tree. Alright? Now you can't eat from the Eitz Hadat if you don't eat from the Eitz Chayim first. Right. The same way how you can't enjoy the pleasures of this world without the Torah. Exactly right. How do I say it? Relations could be the most. beautiful thing in the world. That's right. The most beautiful thing in the world and the most impure thing in the world. That's exactly right. In the same way that you can't like. That's why Judaism has never been against anything in the world that's physical. In fact, quite the opposite. We're here to be maximally physical but it has to be channeled in the appropriate in the appropriate ways. It has to be channeled for purity. Right? So when people think like oh I'm going to be from and I'm going to lose out. No, it's the opposite. It's like a laser. Right? Now it's exceptionally powerful. Beforehand it could be very haphazard. Right? So people could be, in, many relationships at once, but then what have you lost?

27:21 Intimacy, true intimacy, means exclusivity, right? So we always believe in focusing it like a laser. So Judaism believes that you should have food, you should eat, but you should eat l'shem shamayim, which means eating appropriate amounts at appropriate times, right? Which means on Shabbos, onag Shabbos is a real thing, right? Those things are because whenever they're channeled through the etzachayim, then they're appropriate. Okay, let's bring this back to Tanya for a second. So what is the second soul? The second soul is the uniquely Jewish soul. that comes into your body when you're bar or bat mitzvah, depending on if you're male or female. And what is its essence? Its essence is godly. God blew it, right? Man denafach mitayche nafach. He blew from within, and it's his essence that he invested in the soul, which means that all of us have a relationship, an essential relationship that exists.

28:20 Is there a difference between a girl's soul and a guy's soul? Like what's the internal difference between them. We're going to discuss that at length when we get there. What's the difference between male and female? See, this is an important conversation today, right? Because it used to be, is there such a thing as a trans soul, right? No. No, but just like there's people who are born into a non-Jewish family. There are souls. There are souls. It's true that there are... There's nobody that was like born into like a male body and has like a female soul. I don't believe that. But there are... But Rafi, what is important is there are souls that might be male souls that have more feminine qualities to them and vice versa. Okay. Yeah, Michael. Would it be possible for a male soul to be female in other ways.

29:08 No. No. If you are male, it means you have a male soul. Okay, again. the trans conversation is an important conversation, just not for right now. Yeah? The soul coming into somebody's body, is that based on age? It's based on age. So even if somebody never has a bar mitzvah. that's correct. If you never had a party at 13 years old and never put on tefillin, your Jewish soul came into you no matter what. Who's the actress on Friends that played Phoebe? What was her name? You guys know who I'm talking about? She's Jewish. I forget her name. Whatever her name was, she'll come back to me. Nah, not worth it. She went... Yeah, she's blonde. I just know in my head it's Phoebe. Anyway, so she went on one of these. late night talk shows. I forget who it was. I think it was Conan O'Brien or Jimmy Kimmel. It doesn't matter. But she went on one of these shows and she said that her son had a drive-by bar mitzvah.

30:13 You know, in the mall. Yeah. I saw that. He went to the mall and there was some Chabad guys there in the mall asking kids, are you Jewish? You want to put on tefillin? Do you ever have a bar mitzvah? The kid said, I never had a bar mitzvah. He goes, good, I'm making you a bar mitzvah right now. And they made a bar mitzvah in the mall, and she spoke about it when she went on Conan. So, what was that? Yeah, so the funniest thing is I was like asking all my Chabad friends, like who was it? Who was the shliach that did a drive-by bar mitzvah for Phoebe's son? So yes, even if you didn't have a party and if there was no theme and you didn't cut the challah. and you didn't have the candle lighting ceremony or all the things that go along with the bar mitzvahs these days, you are still just as Jewish. So it's an age, right. Yeah, it's an age. Correct. I have a question on that. So, the way I think of... A lot of times that way I connect to my godly soul and the way I think of my godly soul is like feeling connected to something that's infinite and that I'm plugging into that source.

31:13 That's true. And that's something that I can relate back to and can like have definitive memories in my mind of that happening prior to my bar mitzvah. Probably even more before my bar mitzvah. There's a natural godliness that exists even in the Nefesh HaBahamas. Your capacity to do a mitzvah is from the Nefesh HaLokis. So for example, if you put on tefillin when you were 11 years old, did you do anything? Was there a rectification in the world that occurred? Every mitzvah rectifies the world. So you could put on tefillin with the most kavana in the world at 11 years old and it doesn't matter. Because you're not be'etzem plugged in. You didn't have the capacity. But that's Hashem's judging system. No, it's more than that. It's not just because Hashem judges that it's not valuable. It's because you didn't have it yet. That's why it's not valuable. I'm not like uniquely Jewish. You're preparing to be uniquely Jewish. Your godly soul is coming because you are Jewish. Meaning, it's not that you're not Jewish at five. Of course you're Jewish. But you haven't been endowed with a Jewish soul to do uniquely Jewish things. Rafi? Before you're 13, is there any spiritual benefit?

32:23 Yeah, for sure. First of all, let's just say two things. First of all, helping people exists on two dimensions. And this is what I always like. People say you don't need to be Jewish to be a good person. Of course, you can walk old ladies across the street from today till tomorrow and you're making the world a better place. But that has nothing to do with a spiritual rectification of the world. So should we train 10-year-olds to go walk old ladies across the street? Absolutely. Because they don't get a mitzvah. That's right. But when we say they don't get, what do you mean when you say they don't get a mitzvah? Do you mean they don't get the reward for the mitzvah? Because that we're not so interested in. Or do you mean that they have not brought a uniquely spiritual rectification to the world when they did it when they were 11? The answer is the latter, right? So it's still a good thing. It's important to teach them because when they turn 13, now it becomes a mitzvah that has a power to it and that has a spiritual rectification in the world. Michael.

33:26 Why is it that we get the souls at 13 and 12. Why not before? Why not after? When you become a mature body. Yeah, but that happens to be true, right? As we say that your body around that time, right, is now a body that's appropriately ready to take on from a mature, the body had to mature also in order to do these things. So it's two things culminating at once. Ezra, you have a question. Yeah. I feel like there's tons of stories about kids saying a name, saying, yelling, and someone getting a tenner because of it. Great team. Again, the Gemara says that it's from the with their never having the breath that has never sinned because they're not responsible yet, right? So when they learn Torah, it has a tremendous impact. But we don't know what those things mean in the sense that there's, I think what the Gemara is expressing is the innocence of children is powerful in the world, right? But when we speak about scoring baskets, right? They're not scoring baskets.

34:37 There's a difference. It might be that it does something. I'm sure it does do something. I'm sure it's very important to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But it's not, the Jewish mission clock has not yet started. Okay? Okay. Now, Let's keep moving. By the way, it's good to ask these questions. I don't want you guys to stop asking questions. It's good to ask these questions because you'll learn a lot from the questions. I'll do my best to answer them. And I might just say, we're going to come to that because Tanya covers all these things. The Outer Rebbe here gives a mashal. You guys know what a mashal is? A mashal is a parable. What's the mashal? He says, when it comes to the nishamos of Yisrael, the nefesh alokis, they were, so to speak, they were alu b'machshava. What does it mean, alu b'machshava? So, Alam HaKshav literally means they rose in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's thoughts. Okay? Which means to say as follows. There's something called speech. Right? Whenever you say something, who are you saying it to?

35:41 You're saying it to someone else. Right? So, who's the focus on when you speak? Something other. Right? So, when you say that the world came into existence through the Asar HaMa Maros, through the ten utterances of G-d, what is that a way of saying? Saying, it's other than G-d. Does that make sense? It's other than G-d. You guys get that? So, again, the point is the world feels. The experience of the world is that I am other than G-d. You know why it's possible to go through this world. not believing in G-d? Because G-d created the world in such a way that you don't have to believe in Him. Oh, He had to limit Himself to create the world. Correct. We feel other than G-d. Right? You walk around, you could sleep through davening. Why? How could you sleep through davening? Because you feel other than G-d. You feel other than G-d. That's called the world came into existence through speech. Just like when I'm speaking, I'm always speaking to someone else. When God spoke the world into existence, what does the world feel like now? It feels like it's something else, separate and other than God. But when you think of something, guys, the thing you think is not you, but where is it?

36:51 It's within you. So the relationship between you and your thoughts are more closely connected than you and the things that you speak. Does that make sense? So when we say this nature of the soul is so essentially tied to God, that it is, How does it come into creation? It comes into creation through God's thoughts, not through God's speech. So the godly soul feels, right? If you could hear exclusively from the godly soul, what would it say? What would it say about itself? it would say, I am essentially connected to God. It's like the OG God. Correct. The feeling that it has is like, this is my natural connection. And this is what it means, as it says in the Pasuk, that the Jews are the Bechar. What does Bechar mean? The firstborn of God. We are God's children. Why does he use those, mishalim of firstborn and children?

37:53 Why does he use those mishalim? Because just like a father and a son are essentially connected, so too is the soul connected, intrinsically and essentially to God. So far so good? Questions, comments, reactions? So just to sum up so far, what have we said? You get a second soul. That soul is uniquely Jewish. It's the soul, the same soul that was blown into Adam HaRishon. It comes from God's essence. He blew it in from His essence. into creation, right? And it is all of the Moshav. It's related to God just like. something that's a thought in your head as opposed to something that you spoke into existence, which is the nature of a child and a father. The reason a child and a father love each other is because they share in essence. Ezra. Why is thought more powerful. I don't understand what you mean when you say why is thought more powerful.

38:56 It seems to me that you think something that has more of an essence to it than the speech, the ma'amah. No, no, I don't mean to say that it's more powerful. What I mean to say is it's more related. Right, like, I'll give you a good example of this. When you, when I went to, did you go to Poland last year? When I went to Poland, so I was very close with my Madrych. And when I came back, my Madrych asked, how was it? Has anyone here ever been in Poland before? Yeah? So, for me, Poland was a very important experience in my life. Going to Poland and seeing what I saw was very profound. So, when I came back, my Madrych said, how was it? And I was about to answer him, and he said, wait, don't answer that. Because whatever words you use will now become the experience, right? So if you say it was like, it was awesome, it was powerful, it was this, it was that, right? So then you're going to be like sort of limiting it. Right now when it exists in your head, it's bigger than any words, right? Concepts are bigger than words.

40:11 So when we put something into a word, we're narrowing it, right? It's outside of ourselves. When we keep something in our mind, the relationship is more intrinsic, more internal. Make sense. So you're saying God created the world in his mind. I'm saying that there are some things that God creates the world that he speaks into existence and then the feeling that those things have is distant from God. Whereas when God... thinks something into existence, the feeling that it has is closeness to God. So the Jewish soul, because it was thought into existence, as opposed to spoken into existence, it feels closer to God. Yeah, but what about the Jews that don't believe in God. See? Because we all have a Nefesh HaBahamas, and the Nefesh HaBahamas is also very powerful. But we still have the other soul. That's right. And that's why even a Jew who's so far removed from God that he doesn't believe in God at all is still, what? Is still intrinsically connected and you should never give up on him. Make sense? Alright.

41:17 So, if the Nefesh HaLokis is that, do we speak about it in terms of good and bad or true and false? Because if it was created with Hashem's thoughts... Remember, now that the human experience is good and bad, the Nefesh HaLokis has to relate to that experience. But wasn't the Nefesh HaLokis created... True, which means that no matter how much I sin, the Nefesh HaLokis, Elokein Neshama Shanasatabi, Tehari, it remains pure. But it has to relate to the reality in which we now live. So the Nefesh HaLokis will tell you this is moral or immoral. It's like a key in the lock was changed, the key has to change to get to the lock. Right. But it's not that it intrinsically changed, it's still a Chalak HaLokam Mimam Mamesh. Sammy, so far so good? Yep. Okay, weiter. Weiter, Pirish Kemosha HaBen Nimshach Mimoha HaAv, the Altarev is going to use very powerful imagery now, okay? Just like a father comes from where? From the mind of a father, okay? We're going to explain that, relax. We're going to explain. Here we're not speaking scientifically. Here we're speaking spiritually.

42:31 the father has a machshavo. The thing that's most intrinsically related to the father is his own thoughts. And the son is connected deeply to the thoughts of the father. What does this mean? So too, every single soul comes from God's thoughts. Now what does it mean that we're going to. see soon? What does it mean that, the soul comes from a, I'm sorry, that a child comes from the father's thoughts? We'll see in a moment. But remember we said, you're more closely identified even in the human experience, we're going to shift to the godly experience in a minute, but in the more human experience, you're more closely identify your thoughts with yourself than you do your speech. Right? So too, when it comes to a child, the child is related to the thoughts of the father. Now we're going to say a very big thing.

43:34 Yeah, Roy, before we get there. Is it actually true that, sperm production starts from the brain. Could be, and that's why... I heard it. Okay, but here's the thing. I wouldn't even want to get involved, I wouldn't even want to get involved in the science of it, because whether that's true or not true, it wouldn't make a difference to us. Because the Alter Rebbe is giving us a spiritual insight here. Maybe it's true what you're saying. We're not up to pshat. First we've got to learn it. Those who have learned it before, it's great, but you've got to learn it together. Can we just repeat that line. Yeah. Just like a son is intrinsically tied to the father's thoughts, so too in the Moshel, the soul of every single Jew, it flows from the thoughts and the wisdom is Baruch of God. Okay? Now, we're about to make a very big philosophical jump. It's a very important philosophical jump here,

44:39 and it's going to be something that we draw upon for the rest of the year. So everybody has to get this now so that we have it when we go weiter. Okay? It goes as follows. By the way, you see that some of you guys are tired, so we're almost finished with Chelek Aleph. After Chelek Aleph, we'll take a quick break so that you guys could... Take a second to relax because we're doing a lot of heavy things today, okay? A human being is not like God, okay? Because when we think, we are not one with our thoughts. So we could think something, and it's not us, right? So you could think a terrible thing, but it's not you, right? It's just a thought that you had. So far so good? Well, it's an expression that popped up in my mind, right? It's true. But it's not me. So, for example, even if I don't have thoughts, you shouldn't kill me. So even if I'm brain dead, right? Don't take a knife and hack me to death, right.

45:45 Okay, good. So there's going to be, as we're going to see, three expressions of the soul, and that's thoughts, speech, and action, but we're not there yet, okay? But one thing for sure, you are not your thoughts. You have thoughts. Is that fair? Does everyone agree with that? Yeah. Why don't we get punished on our thoughts. I'm not sure we do. We don't. I'm not sure we do. Right? Because... If you do something bad and then you... After Rebbe is going to discuss what's the role of a Hurei HaVeira. But, one thing for sure. Everyone here can say I think. But no one here, maybe you can even say I think, therefore I am. But no, which I don't agree with. But no one here should say I am my thoughts. Right? So, however, G-d is one with His thoughts. Look at the... Look what it means. Look what it says here. De'iu chakim ve'lo bechach meyediya.

46:40 elehu vechach maso echa. The Alter Rebbe here is quoting the Tikkuni Zohar. Okay? The Tikkuni Zohar says as follows. God is wisdom, but not with the wisdom of a human being. Because the wisdom of a human being, right, is we think. We think, right? But we are not one with our thoughts. Bechadra, if you say God is one, what are you saying? If you say God thinks, right, and God is one, then what are you really saying? Well, you don't want to say that, right? You don't want to say God is finite. So what must it mean? It means God's relationship with his thoughts are not the same as a human being's relationship with his thoughts. Okay? Because when... That person has thoughts? Sure. But not like a human being has thoughts. That's what's important. That's not part of that vision. Correct. He has a machshava, but the machshava... That's part of the vision. Very good. Makhshava, excellent, Ravi, that's exactly the point. When we speak about a Makhshava, okay, this is critical, when you speak about a Makhshava that you had, so you say, I had a Makhshava. But if God has a Makhshava, what does that mean? It means there's something outside of Him. So where must the Makhshava be, so to speak? It must be one with Him. So when you look at God's thoughts, God does not have thoughts the way a human being has thoughts.

48:08 Because then there would be two things. And when it comes to God, we only believe in one thing. So he says, God and His wisdom are one. Now can a human being ever conceive of this? Why not? Because all we have are thoughts that we think. But we would not know what it looks like to be one with our thoughts. So this is why, even though we think, and even though God thinks, and people go, oh wait, God thinks? Sure. But not like a human being thinks. Because, hu v'chachmasu echad. But now let's follow the logic. Yeah. Is what you're trying to say that if we think, we can't be overthinking without thinking. No, before that. Before that. When you think right now, Roy, are you your thoughts, or is Roy thinking? I'm thinking. Good. When we say God has thoughts, we can't say God thinks, because then there's God has a part of him that thinks. And God has no parts because God is all one. So when we say God thinks, we mean He is His thoughts. He and His thoughts are one. His thoughts and him are not like us when we say Roy thinks. You understand? So if you say,

49:23 and this is what Rafi was saying before, right? If you say that God is one with his thoughts, then what are you really saying, Rabbi Isai? If we come from God's thoughts, if our nefesh Hashem comes from God's thoughts, what are you saying about the relationship between the Jewish soul and God. It is what it is, Hashem. Correct. And that's what the Alter Rebbe means when he says, meaning when we say it's Mamish part of Hashem, what we mean to say is the relationship between the soul and God is the same relationship as God and his thoughts. Just like, correct, just like God does not think, rather as the Rambam says next line, He is both the knower and the known, and the knowledge, which you couldn't say about a person, because I think of knowledge. You see how it's outside of myself? But the Rambam is saying, He is both the knower and the knowledge all at once, because it's all within his oneness. And a person cannot understand this. Why not? Because we are not one with our thoughts. We think.

50:48 Our thoughts are not the same as God's thoughts. Let us do a quick summary and then we're going to take a seven minute break so that you guys can splash some water on your faces because you look tired today. Number one, we said that God blew a soul from his essence and that soul is the Jewish soul. Number two, we said, where does the soul come from? It is from God's thoughts. The relationship between us and God. is like a son to a child because we are intrinsically connected. We come from God's thoughts. Okay, Rabbi Osei, we're going to take a quick break. Now, up until now we discussed the nature of the Jewish soul. Now we're going to discuss the different types of souls.

51:56 If you think about it, so then what it comes out is, if we all come from one source, and we're all connected to one source, so then what's going to be the fundamental problem? So then we're all the same, right? So the Alter Ebbets says, no, we're not all the same. There are many, many different levels of souls, each one above the next, infinitely. All of the souls that exist in the world, that have ever existed in the world, and that will ever exist in the world, come from a place in Adonai Rishon. So there are souls that are more connected to the head, and there are souls that are more connected to the Eikev, to the heel. Those souls that are connected to the Rosh are the great souls of Klal Yisrael, like, for example, Maishrabenu, Avimavinu, Yitzhakavinu, Yaakovvinu.

53:10 And then there are souls that are what we call ikvas of the Mashiach souls. These souls are the souls that are going to bring Mashiach because they are from the Eikev. They're from the heel, so to speak, of Adonai Rishon, and that's us. But these souls are lower, lower. So there are elevated souls and there are lower souls. I'm just going to pause for one second. Okay. Now we're going to try to explain now the concept of ikvas of the Mashiach. And this is going to be a very, very deep dive that we're going to take. So let's try to all get on the same page. As I said, he got the Jewish soul when he took on the Jewish mission. Up until that time, Avraham Avinu, nobody in the world had said, we're making it our mission, our life, to rectify the sin of other Mauritians.

54:13 So you'd be the only one, like you said, when people convert, some say they get the soul, but you say they're born with it, and you'd be the only one that would get it. He was the one that adopted the soul, so to speak, of other Mauritians. Yes, Rafi. So a Gair is most like Avraham, because instead of us, we're all on the schedule. And that's why we call Gairim, somebody becomes a Gair, he's Ben Avraham. Wait, I have a question. Yeah. Isn't it that like Everybody who has a Jewish soul Was born with a Jewish soul Even if they're a gayer Because like You know They always had a Jewish soul They always felt that feeling It's that you know Then they just converted Yeah Even Avraham was born with a Jewish soul. He had the capacity Correct That's what it means So what happened with the action.

55:00 When the action became Jewish You said Wasn't he Jewish his whole life. No I mean He took upon himself Kharun Rashid walks in Avraham Avinu took upon himself The Jewish mission And that's what brought out The soul of Adam HaRishon That he now is intrinsically connected To Adam HaRishon, Okay Now Here we're going to have A very deep discussion About what it means The footsteps of Mashiach There are two directions in Judaism From the bottom up And up Down, Okay Those are the two directions. The Medrash in Parshas Nassau says. That God had a desire, we're going to discuss what all these things mean, God had a desire to have a dwelling place in the world down below. So in Judaism, what's better? Higher or lower? Our whole lives when we grow up thinking, we've got to go higher. Correct.

56:05 When we think about transcendence, right, going from down up, so that's very powerful. But in Yiddishkeit, our responsibility, our mission is ikvisa the Meshicha, with the heel, to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu down lower into the world. So you have different types of souls, the Alter Rebbe says. You have those souls that are Avram Avinu, Moshe Rabbeinu souls. They are the Moach. Those are the brains. Those are the leadership. That's the CEO. But ultimately, what moves the company? The Hamon Am. Those that are down in the trenches. Remember we said the first parakentanya, the tzaddik, he's a tzaddik because he doesn't sin even at all. The Beinoni doesn't even have the Avon of Bittal Torah. We do. What's the opportunity when a person does an Avera? The opportunity is to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu lower into the world. And as we're going to see, there are three things, mitzvos, tshuva, and yisurin. Positive commandments. Tshuva is what we do when we violate.

57:06 one of those commandments. And yisurin is suffering. When you find God in all three, in your mitzvos, tshuva, and yisurin, that brings Hakadosh Baruch Hu down into the world. And that reveals godliness in the world. That spells, Rashi Tevos, mitzvos, tshuva, and yisurin, spells matai. As in, ad matai. When? will Moshiach come? The Tamidei Ha'amchal say when you bring God into your mitzvos because it's possible to do mitzvos without believing in God, without focusing on God. When you do tshuva means when you're even willing to bring God. into the parts of your life that are embarrassing, that you feel guilty about. That's tshuva. And yisurin is when you bring God into your suffering. Moshiach. How does the Rebbe or this idea translate into the Gemara that says that the Bam Tenfach in this world are... It's the Hanukkah sugyah. ...are our domain and... It's the Hanukkah sugyah. The Rebbe has a mime around Hanukkah. It's a very, very long answer. I'm going to wait until Hanukkah to answer that question. It's a very, very, very... It's the Rebbe's question. It's the Alter Rebbe's question. Yeah. All right.

58:08 So you're saying that there's two methods either going up or going down. Transcendence. versus bringing God down. Isn't the very act of bringing Hashem down into this world, But to get up to that level, aren't you elevating yourself or bringing us down. Correct. What naturally happens, right, there are yin-yang. But the difference is as follows. When you focus on going up, right, so then you want to leave the world behind. Okay? When you focus on bringing God down, that's what gives you the capacity to engage the world. So there's always two types of people. Those that want to leave the world, right, and those that want to go into the world. So in chassah, the world around us. So for example, how would I go into my job? Okay? If I only believed in transcendence, then you would say, I don't really want to have a job. A job is a curse, right? And if you say the job is to bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu lower into the world, that when you have a job, you look at it as an opportunity to be Mekadosh Shem Shamayim. So there are those that are always trying to run away from the world, and there's certainly truth to that, because the soul wants to be in Shamayim. And there are those that recognize, despite the fact that my soul wants to leave, my job is to engage. And no matter where I go,

59:26 I have the opportunity to be in Mechad Hashem Shamayim. That's the practical difference. That's why Chassidus allows us, to confront the secular world and not to be afraid of it. Because we understand that's the mission. It's like, imagine if somebody was complaining about it. They're playing basketball, and they complain. They're like, it's so annoying. Why do they play defense? The whole game is to beat the defense, right? So in Chassidus, when we see something that's Tamei, we don't complain about it. What do we want to do? We want to bring light to the darkness. Make sense? Yeah. If I could share a quick story. Please. My grandfather, when he first got out of Kiva, he was like... And he had the weird thought that he wanted to go to the army. He wanted to be in the American army. And so he went to the rabbi and he said, like, you know, it's something I should do. And the rabbi said, wholeheartedly, go for it. He just gave him two conditions. One, you have to go through the National Guard so your family can stay in one place. They're not moving around. And two is that you have to be a chaplain. And so he served for 39 years in the army.

1:00:34 39. 39 years in the army. And wasn't he the longest serving chaplain. Yeah. You know? No? I read an article about him. That's my grandfather. Yeah, he had an article. I just recently read an article about him. Maybe like six months ago. Because he retired last year. Oh. Oh, Taka. Oh, what a schluss. That's your grandfather. So he says that, like, he talks a lot about the army. It's life. So the one thing he says is that he has all these crazy stories about Ibrahim and he was in this place, he was in Iraq for Pesach and this for that, and it always ends up happening that he'd be in the most, you'd think the most far away place from Yiddish and from doing the most, the least holiest thing possible. Like trekking through the desert, like around Baghdad with a gun and like looking to kill people, looking to kill, like it's like not something you think is connected to Godliness, but like at the end of the day, he always managed to affect in a positive way those around him.

1:01:30 So that was the Rebbe's mission for him was that he should, that was why he should be in Iraq. Exactly right. Exactly right. That's the difference between the classic Lithuanian yeshiva approach and the Hasidic approach. The classic Lithuanian yeshiva approach would have been to say, And the Rebbe said, Ad Rebbe. You're going to have an amazing opportunity here. Now you have to know yourself, right? To go out into such a situation could be very dangerous and you have to be very careful. We're engaging, but we're not embracing. We're negotiating, right? That's the difference between Chassidus and some other sects of Orthodoxy, that we're going out into the outside world to be mashpia on it, not to be mushpa from it. But this is a huge thing. To understand the difference, that there are souls that are the chinah of moach, there are souls that are leadership-oriented because they're the brains behind the operation. They have a particular role, but to understand that every single Jew is the ikvus of the Mashiach, so we're the ones that bring it, that make it happen, that's a huge revolution. Tovia.

1:02:31 When you say that there are souls that come from the brain, and those are leadership, are those people that, like today, are the Jews that connect more to that part. No, we're not saying intellectual. Yeah, even the most intellectual Jew today is more of an Eikev type of Jew. So that's what it means to live in Ikvas of the Mashiach, the footsteps of Mashiach. What we mean when we say the Rosh is we mean a purity of soul, right? Moshe Rabbeinu had a purity of soul. Avivino had a purity of soul. We have more struggles, but the struggles create the friction that create the motion that brings Mashiach, okay? So even though we're all connected to the same source, we all trace our one route back to that ultimate Makhshava of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, but there are many different levels. Each one of us has a different level. Some of us are, some Heilig Neshamas are called Malach, and we are Ikvas of the Mashiach. Yes, Aaron.

1:03:30 So, can you try to say it again? Hmm. Ikvasa, Eikev, from the lesson of Eikev. Does that mean that, let's say, back in Moshe's day or after, was that Mashiach wasn't needed then. No, no, no, Mashiach was needed then too. So was it not possible for him to come and there were those people in the world. Meaning, what it means to say is that in the times of Moshe Rabbeinu, we were in a totally different place. You see, the world is divided up into 6,000 years, 2,000, 2,000, and 2,000, okay? So 2,000 years, the first 2,000 years until Avraham Avinu, right? In 1948, Avraham Avinu was born, and he started the world's transition into the second 2,000 years. The second 2,000 years were called Torah, so it went from Toh, which is chaos, to Torah. It was 2,000 years of Torah, followed by 2,000 years of Mashiach.

1:04:24 2,000 years of Mashiach are the years which we pave the way for Mashiach to come. All three stages are necessary towards the ultimate fulfillment of the rectification of the world. Now, we know already that in the times of Maishah Rabbeinu, there was the possibility of doing these things. For example, had Maishah Rabbeinu gone into Eretz Yisrael and built the Bais HaMikdash, then it would have been a Binyan Adayad. There would have been no three Batei Mikdash, which was critical. There needed to be three Batei Mikdash because the world still had a gestational process. So we're saying that the same thing with Adam Rishon, like Moshe needed to... So even in the times of Adam Rishon, that's what somebody referenced before, that Adam Rishon gave up 70 years of his life for David HaMelech. In fact, they say that Adam Rishon stands for... The Aleph stands for Adam, the Dalet stands for David, and the Mem stands for Mashiach. Adam, David, Mashiach. Because Adam HaRishon, correct, saw even within himself that this is what needed to happen. So there was a gestational period. Here what we're speaking about is there was always the capacity for Moshiach to come, but it needed to be longer. That's what Divine Providence decreed in order for all of it, ultimately, to become dirib betachtaynim. So we're speaking here about the idea.

1:05:26 of the elevated souls versus the souls that are more Eikev-oriented that are actually struggling and are going to move the territory. The tzaddik doesn't struggle. So when there's no struggle, there's no friction. And no friction, no movement. Do you understand? So the tzaddik is here to help us, even though we're struggling, to continue to move forward. That's the job of a Rebbe. I want to ask so many questions on this, but the main one is like, if... If, let's say, the world is a period of 6,000 years, right? Which to Hashem is like this. It's not even this. It doesn't even exist in His mind. It's time. So, I mean, why? Yeah, and also, why was there a need for, you know, why is this whole thing set up this way? Meaning, why was there a need for Adam, Eve, and David in sin? Why couldn't Mashiach start from there? What's the point of having Mashiach come along? What's the point of having this 6,000 years?

1:06:17 What is this whole world set up in a certain way. It's good, it's good, it's good. It's very good. It doesn't matter to Hashem. It's very good. Well, it does matter. I mean, it does matter, but in the scope of things, no. So, explain like this. We have 20 minutes left. I see we're going to get stuck on this, but it's okay. It goes as follows. What Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants, as we said earlier, is Nisa'a VeHaKadosh Baruch Ha. Hakadosh Baruch Ha is a taiva. It's a taiva. What does it mean to have a taiva? It's a desire. A desire, okay? When you want to know why someone has a desire, can you ask the question why. You can ask. There's no answer to the question of desire. So if, let's say, for example, I told you, I love my wife because... What could possibly come at the end of that sentence that would make sense? I love my wife because she's a good cook. So do you love your wife or do you love food.

1:07:23 You love your wife because of us. If somebody said, oh, I love my wife because she's a good mother. Well, what happens if she has a bad day? You divorce her? You guys are learning Givin this year. It's dangerous stuff. Let's say somebody says, I love my wife because she's pretty. What happens when she gets old? So you don't love your wife because... You love your wife. It's for no logical reason. There's no possibility of knowing why. You couldn't ever articulate it. Because you love your wife, you're going to love a lot of things about her, like the way that she's a mom, like the way that she cooks, and so on and so forth, right? But none of those things have to do with the atzmias, the essence of your love. You love her not because. You just love her, right? So when God says, I desire to have a dwelling place with something, a relationship, because that's what a dwelling place is, right? A dwelling place is a relationship, right? A dira is where two people live together. When God says, I desire to have a relationship with something else, right?

1:08:28 The question is not why. That doesn't even make any sense. What would the question be? How do we have a relationship? Not why. It's not that we can't ask why. We can ask, but what answer would you possibly want? God wants a relationship with you so that you'll do mitzvot. So does God love me or mitzvot. Like if I don't do mitzvot, it's like this. Right. And that's where people make that terrible mistake because they go, if I don't do God's mitzvot, then God doesn't love me. That's terrible. Hashem can explain anything. What was that. Hashem can explain anything. How? For us, we can't put into words why we love someone. But that's exactly right. It's not, because it's not within the realm of words. Love is in the realm of words. Like Hashem knows why.

1:09:06 Yeah, but how could I? We don't know why. Right. That's the point. What would it be like? Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows why. The truth is, even Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't know why he did it. Because when you love someone, it comes from your essence. It's the connection that you have with them. Right. It's not in the realm of why. We're used to thinking about things as like, I want to know why. Right. And we're so sure that that's a good question. It's not always a good question. You understand? So now, one second. Ezra, give me a couple minutes. I'm going to play that. So now, if God wants a relationship with you, He wants a relationship with you, right? So in order for you to be you, what do you need? You need to be other than him, right? Because otherwise you're just God. So what's the first thing that God does? Is he makes you other than him. You understand? And at the same time, you're connected to him. You have a soul. So you see how it's like two things are happening at once? On the one hand, you have I'm disconnected from God. And on the other hand, I have a soul that's connected to God, right? So this is like marriage. Two things that are disconnected from each other.

1:10:09 But have the capacity for connection, yeah? So now, with this in mind, we can answer Aaron's question. Aaron says, why didn't Hakadosh Baruch Hu make us perfect? Do those words make sense? Make something perfect? Can you make something perfect? If it's perfect, it can't be made. No. If it's perfect, it's him. You can't make. You understand? You can't make something perfect because by definition it's not perfect then. It's been made. No. As a function of God's perfection there can be no other perfection. A malach is not God. A malach doesn't have. a choice. But Hashem can make something. that's perfect. No. It's the one thing. that God can't do, right? God can't make something that's perfect. By definition if it's perfect it can't be made. No, but it's not a limitation because it's a function of His perfection. Can you say can God be imperfect? No. Because He's God. He's perfect. So you say, ah, you're limiting God. He's not imperfect. No. It's a function of His perfection that He can't be imperfect. That's the answer. Right? That's the answer. No. That's perfect. That's right. But no, no, no. You missed it.

1:11:29 That's... Perfection cannot be made. By definition, if it's made, it's not perfect because it needed something to make it. So Hashem says, I'm going to make something that's not me. By definition, it's going to be free then. And if it's free, it's going to have free choice. If it has free choice, it's going to make bad mistakes. And what does God say about those things? Those things are lovable. Why? Because I love you. Not for what you do for me, because that's not love. Love. So people say, why didn't God make a perfect world where we never make a mistake? Because what type of relationship is that? That's not a relationship. In order to have a relationship, you need something that's other than you that's really annoying sometimes. That's what marriage is. That's the struggle of marriage. Look, all couples get on each other's nerves. So at that point, you have a choice. Stay or go. What's the value of staying? I love you, even when I'm annoying?

1:12:30 Of course. Because if I only loved you when you behave appropriately, then I don't love you. I love appropriate behavior. Yichap? Make sense? Right. So people are like, how come God didn't make me perfect? How boring would that be? Then you would never know what God really loves. You understand? So you were always going to be imperfect. You were always going to have free choice. And you could be very distant from God. Of course. So you're saying God purposely didn't make anything perfect. It's impossible to make something that's perfect. He made us purposefully imperfect and beautifully imperfect. Sure. Of course. And he loved him after he sinned. No, because remember, he still had the capacity for free choice. Yeah, Michael. So what was the point of making God aiden? because remember. Gan Eden wasn't perfect Gan Eden was balanced right there was truth and falsehood so the capacity to choose one or the other was beautiful to God and remember I told you guys before that other Marishon sinned and it was purposeful because remember what does God want God wants a he wants a dwelling place in the world down below other Marishon looked at the world and he goes that's not low enough we could go lower so he sinned because it brought the world lower.

1:13:49 and then Kayin sinned again and it brought the world lower. That's a very complicated story. But the truth is that there's even a medrash that says, there's even a medrash that says and that's why if you look at the story of creation, it keeps going lower and lower and lower, right? There's even a medrash that says that Cain was not the child of Adam and Havah. He was the child of Havah and the Nachash. And that it was a continuation of the Nachash. Correct. Was that. That's what I said. Remember I said before it was complicated? And then you wanted one answer? Right, so I said it. So I said it was complicated. But now, Havah, think about it. Adam, then Cain. Then the flood. Then Migdal Bavel. What's the whole story of Beresh is really about? It's a story about everything going... There's a lot of bad stuff in the Bible.

1:14:50 Yeah. There's a lot of bad stuff. So what's the track, guys? Every time you go lower, as Jews, what do we see when it goes lower? We go, and that's exciting. Because when it goes lower, what do we have the opportunity? To bring God lower into the world. So think about it like this. If you... Let's say you love your wife, right? But you don't tell her things. Like, you don't tell her the bad stuff about yourself. Right? So then, who's in the relationship with your wife? That's not really you, though, is it? It's both of you. It's a part of you. But the bad part is also a part of you. So you have to be willing to go to the people you love and say, I'm not perfect. Do you love me? Even in my imperfections. That's what tshuva is. Ezra, you had a question before I asked you to hold off? Yeah. You can't really place a why on love or why someone does something. And yet we have psychologists that...

1:15:49 I actually think it's exactly the opposite because the therapeutic world actually recognizes that we can't understand the full dimensions of a person. For example, when you try to make something overly scientific, So then it comes out like this, right? I can measure why Ruvain and Sarah love each other. It's because when Sarah comes close to Ruvain, Ruvain's mind secretes dopamine and serotonin and oxytocin. And as they touch each other, right? But that's not love. I understand, but like specifically her, why is it specifically her? Because form says... Right, so right. So, good. And we now know that all of those theories, while they have elements of truth to them, are severely limited, right? If you're going to go over to your wife and you're going to get down on one knee and you're going to go, Freud says the only reason I love you is because I'm really attracted to my mother and you reminded me of my mother. And so when I see you, it produces the most serotonin and oxytocin and dopamine. So marry me. If that woman doesn't run, she needs to be institutionalized, right.

1:16:56 That's not the word itself, but that might explain... But it doesn't really explain why. Because why was I born to that mother? Yeah, I don't know. If that's what you took from all of that. Michael. Forgot. Tobio. When you say, like, I'll come back to you. When I think of going lower, I think of that. Right, but it's true that when you make mistakes, the relationship goes lower. But that's not necessarily a bad thing because you could also look at it as deeper. So it's like if you and your wife get into a fight, so it's painful, and yet when you work your way through and you excavate into that pain, that's where you find each other. It's like, it really hurt me when you did this, and then the other person said back, well, it really hurt me when you did that. And if you're able to meet each other in your pain, that's exceptional. That's where the relationship is really built. So couples that don't fight can be really sad because they can have very surface-level relationships, or maybe they don't even have relationships at all. I'll never forget one of the boys in Mavassar whose parents got divorced in his senior year, and when he came to yeshiva, he wanted to talk about it, and so he sat talking about it. And he said, Rebbe, my parents never fought. I didn't see it coming.

1:18:31 And I said to him, that should have been your first clue. If there's no tension whatsoever in the marriage, either one of two things. Either it's being hidden from the children, which is not necessarily a good thing. Why not. Because children should know that parents struggle so that when they get into a marriage, they'll know it's okay. They should just make sure the parents see them with their forgiveness also. Both things are necessary. But if you never find it, it also might mean you don't care. And in this case, it was because the parents had stopped caring about each other a long time ago and they were only staying married until the kids got to a certain age. You understand? So you could look at low and think bad or you could look at low and think deep. The deeper you get in the relationship, the more you excavate, the more you find each other from within. Michael, I'll come back.

1:19:17 So if our whole purpose is to bring God over to us, why aren't we constantly seeing the bad. We aren't? I'm constantly seeing the bad. Why isn't that our main focus? It is. No, it is, because when I do a mitzvah, first of all, my mitzvahs are all physical, so they're all here in the physical world. Every mitzvah has a physical dimension, whether it be thought, speech, or action. So they're all physical. That's one level of depth. And I am sinning all the time. We're constantly sinning. People say, so I should sin on purpose. You don't need to sin on purpose. You're already sinning on purpose. You don't need to try to sin. It's going to happen all the time, everywhere you turn. You don't need to do more. We have a moral compass. Yeah, but the thing is, you will do more. It's the natural condition of your humanity. You don't need to focus on it. Right? It's going to happen. So you could... Because you have enough tshuva to do already for your averos. You've done enough averos already. You know what I'm saying? And you'll do more. You don't have to focus on it. You have to focus on rectifying the averos that you've done. Rectification means that something is unhealed.

1:20:28 There's a period. There's a separation that exists. My opportunity is to take two things and bring them together. So as we said, there are souls, I'm sorry, there are souls that are elevated. Their job is not to struggle. It's a different job. They're the CEOs of the company. We're going to discuss at length what their job is. But for us who are Eikev Jews, when we struggle, we naturally say, all right, struggle. Struggle. You know what I mean? But we don't beat ourselves up over the struggle because we know that we were meant to struggle. Who was the one that created us to struggle to begin with? It was him. So that's what we'll be with. Mm-hmm. All right. Comment and question. So I'm reading, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Which is the perfect example of this. How many people here have read Man's Search for Meaning from Viktor Frankl? Hayav, you must read it this year. Viktor Frankl, you all know who he was? He was a psychologist who went through the Holocaust. And he was, studying in the Holocaust as a psychologist, why some people survived and others didn't. What was the psychology? There's an amazing story about Viktor Frankl and the Rebbe, not for now. But I will tell you one thing about Viktor Frankl. The story is told that he brought with him.

1:21:57 all of the work that he had done in psychology to the concentration camps. And he had to it was taken by the Nazis and he begged to keep it. And he lost his entire life's work. And he was wearing these prisoner's clothing. And he reached into the pocket of the prisoner's clothing, and it was clearly somebody that had just been killed in the crematoria. And he stuck his hand in the pocket, and he pulled out a piece of paper, and on the piece of paper was written, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. And Viktor Frankl said he traded one dissertation for another. He went from, he lost his entire life's work, which by the way ended up being the best thing, because in the concentration camp, he came up with this concept of logo therapy, which means the therapy of meaning. And so he was the one that established that meaning could save a person. If you have an opportunity to read the book, amazing book.

1:22:46 Yeah, I'm sorry for cutting you off. That was pretty much all I was going to say, is that he describes meaning within suffering, and that the only people who survived in the concentration camp were the ones who found the most meaning in the most mundane things. Meaning within suffering, meaning within Yeraveiros, meaning within Shuvah. And then my question was, a continuation of my question, which just set off all this. After Mashiach comes, is it a perfect world? Like, are we still... Mashiach ushers in... Bad, truth, false... Mashiach ushers in the era of Olam Haba, and in Olam Haba, there is no more Averes. The truth becomes obvious, as the Gemara says, and the Rambam Paskins, that the sun will come out of its pouch, and at that point, we will have arrived. So how does Mashiach get here? So, again, because we are accustomed in this world to only understand the notion of journey, we don't understand the notion of arrival, which is why it's so difficult to talk about Olam Haba.

1:23:41 But if we're saying that... No, at that point, he loves us. There's nothing else, just us. So why didn't he just love us before Adam started sinning? Because then we never would have earned it. So what's the point of Olam Haba? Why should we doubt him so hard? We're going on a new journey. All right, Bosa, we'll stop here for today. Be'ezr Hashem, we'll pick this up tomorrow.