rasha – New beginnings: A blog about spirituality, chaplaincy and renewal

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 39

Final section of Chapter 25. This last section deals with two topics.

1. The daily need for forgiveness for the negligence that is our human imperfection as it relates to not constantly fulfilling study of Torah and performing mitzvot. This negligence is in contrast to willfully abrogating the law, for which teshuva is much more complicated.

2. A review of how reciting Shema 2x a day is a message of absolute loyalty to Gd. It is about commitment. Spiritual growth and connection to faith is ideally about absolute commitment.

We look at how we have to commit to change and not just claim we want it.

Finally, we end off with a short Torah thought based on Parashat Yitro regarding Gd’s revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai in light of what we have studied as it relates to Gd revealing Gdself distilled through the Torah.

Shabbat Shalom.

Episode 39

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Audio – Lessons in Tanya 35

Part one of Chapter 24 This chapter explores how violating the 365 prohibitions of the Torah leads to a sense of separation from Gd. The previous chapters looked at how our actions lead to a closeness and a unification with the divine. This chapter shares the opposite, reflecting on different degrees of sin. We mess up because of our sense of self and we mess up because the animal soul influences us to the point of folly. The latter might help us understand the difference between the Beinoni and the Rasha. Finally, this lesson also contains a short message for Tu B’Shvat at the end of the recording.

Episode 35

All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 29

Chapter 18. We take a deeper dive into the notion of love and fear of Gd being “a very near thing,” so near in fact that it is embedded in our DNA. We discuss how this spark always exists, which oftens comes out at times when our backs are up against the wall. I also expound on how this concept is another sign that the Alter Rebbe’s approach is one of encouraging even those who seem so far removed that there is always an opportunity to change. We cannot despair of being stuck.

Episode 29

All episodes can also now be heard on Apple Podcasts – here

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 28

Chapter 17 – This chapter further examines how a person can reveal one’s innate love and fear of Gd. We explore the duality of the heart as the seat of thought and emotion. We discuss aspects of how our actions can bring about different emotional states from what we feel before the action. This chapter also offers us a new perspective on the Rasha and how it is possible for the Rasha to overcome the animalistic soul being the driver of life. We conclude with a short piece of understanding how repentance is a return to Gd through a kabbalistic read of the Hebrew word for repentance, Teshuva.

Episode 28

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 23

Final section of chapter 12. We finish the initial discussion of the Beinoni as it relates to the righteous and wicked person. Much of the focus is on how the categories might be a case of mind over matter.

Episode 23

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 21

Beginning of chapter 12. This chapter brings us to the definition of the Beinoni, the intermediary, non-tzaddik, non-rasha, person. We discuss today the difficulty in defining this person based on the criteria presented, namely a person who has never sinned and never been a rasha, yet always lives with some form of struggle. We work to describe the beinoni based on this criteria and the scenarios of when this person has moments when the divine soul overwhelms the animal soul and when the person “doesn’t.” I offer my take on trying to grasp with the difficulty the term intermediary presents in relation to what the Tanya is trying to say it means.

Episode 21

Audio – Lessons in Tanya 20

We explore chapter 11 of Tanya. This chapter describes the different categories of rasha, the “wicked” person. We discuss how the rasha seems to always have a means of turning things around, through having remorse and regret, except for the rare instance of the “rasha who only has evil,” which is the one whose divine soul no longer dwells within. We go a short tangent about the issue of suffering as penance from a spiritual care perspective as it relates to Tanya. I offer perspective on how the paradigms being established in Tanya are getting to core issues about overcoming tendencies in our lives.

Episode 20