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Lessons in Tanya #53 – Chapter 26 Part 2 [The Latent Good Within Suffering]

Making our way into Chapter 26 of the Tanya we continue the theme of serving God in happiness. More than this – simply being happy with everything as it is. Nobody is saying this is easy. The Alter Rebbe is, however, telling us that we need to reframe ourselves into seeing things in their correct perspective.

Lessons in Tanya #52 – Chapter 26 Part 1 [Be Happy!]

Becoming excited to serve God is one thing. Our previous chapters dealt with awakening the hidden love which is in our hearts so that we can serve God. We finally feel we can flee from those things that disconnect us with God. We finally want to connect with God and we know we can do it by observing the Mitzvot and by studying Torah.

Lessons in Tanya #51 – Chapter 24 Part 3 / Chapter 25 – [Staying Connected To God]

Stay Connected to God Lessons in Tanya Thumbnail

We conclude Chapter 24 where the Alter Rebbe gives us a vivid description of what happens when we go against the will of God. He tells us that it is like taking the head of the king (King) and immersing it in a toilet bowel filled with filth. Of course, when all is done, the head is taken out the bowl and – so to speak – life returns to normal. But the mere thought of the analogy is enough to make us aware that while it is that when we sin, we disconnect from God from those moments – and even though we can reconnect back to God immediately afterwards, the whole process involved with the sin is a most insulting one towards to king (King.)

Lessons in Tanya #50 – Chapter 24 Part 2 – [Every Sin Tears One Away From God]

Even the Kelipot do not rebel against God. This is because being what they are, they fulfil their role in life. They acknowledge God but their behaviour is such that they behave against the good of God – holding God (so to speak) in exile within them.

Lessons in Tanya #49 – Chapter 23 Part 3 Chapter 24 Part 1 – [The Sinner is Lower than the Kelipah]

Torah is greater than the performance of Mitzvot. A person who can understand this will be overcome with a sense of tremendous fear when he engages in the study of Torah. He realises ultimately that he is cleaving to God Himself – who is concealed within those words and is really one with them.

Lessons in Tanya #47 – Chapter 23 Part 2 – [Torah and God are One]

The Alter Rebbe tells us that the forefathers are the Merkava – the Chariot of God. Just as a chariot does only the will of its owner, so too did the forefathers fulfill the will of God completely. Their every movement, their every word, their every thought was directed to God and for His purpose.

Lessons in Tanya #47 – Chapter 22 Part 2 / Chapter 23 Part 1 – [Mitzvot are the Limbs of the King]

Holiness only rests upon something that is nullified to God. This is the difference between the Sitra Achra (the Other Side i.e. evil) and holiness. It is the way of Sitra Achra to consider itself independent of God – as if it is charge of itself. But the truth is that evil still acknowledges God. It just believes that it is in charge of things – while God (so to speak) is just there. As if they have no obligation towards God. The Sitra Achra maintains its own status – its own level of arrogance.

Lessons in Tanya #46 – Chapter 22 Part 1 – [God Sustains Evil and is in Exile Within It]

The Torah speaks in the language of man. Because of this, when the Torah says that God speaks – it means that their is a resemblance between His speech and ours.

Lessons in Tanya #45 – Chapter 21 Part 2 – [Darkness is Like Light to God]

We learnt that God speaks creation into being. His speaking, however, is unlike our speaking. When God speaks, the words remain connected to Him, unlike ourselves – that our words separate from us as we say them.

Lessons in Tanya #44 – Chapter 21 – [The Words of God: United With Him Even After They Are Spoken]

Though it is that when a person speaks, his speech becomes detached from him – this is not so with regards to God. The words that God speaks remain attached to Him even after they “leave His lips”. It is because of this that the concept of existence is very different to the way we imagine it to be.