Wednesday nights - Rav Benzion's Tanya shiur..........Please continue to daven for the good health of the Rebbe (Yechiel Michel ben Devorah Leah) and Rebbetzin (Feiga bas Sarah).

Monday, March 26, 2012

My Favorite Shiur (Part 1/3)

While this shiur is for any time during the year, the Rebbe spoke about it now as it specifically relates to Pesach and offers a path to many of the themes of the upcoming Yom Tov.


We all know that Hashem is the source of all things, that He is good and that He loves us. We understand that we must follow His Torah and mitzvos, that He sees and knows all and that there is nothing more enriching than connecting with Him.

Knowing, however, is a far cry from integrating. Our heads and hearts act as total strangers in the majority of instances, completely out-of-sync. Each one is operating on its own without anything connecting them. That third gear which allows the brain and our real-time, actualized self to run congruently is the elusive missing link, holding up the works in every area of life. What if we could take those things that we know to be true about Hashem and the nature of His world, and really live with that understanding? In other words, what if we would actualize in practice what we already know intellectually?

Well, for starters, we would be awesome.

You know those brain twister puzzles with different shaped metal rings bent around a few larger rings? The goal is to somehow separate the rings from the mess of bent and twisted pieces. Many of these puzzles are so convoluted and complicated that its difficult just to tell where to begin, alone to actually solve them. Surely I am not the only one who has given up nearly every one of such puzzles that I've ever tried.


Figuring out how to bridge the gap between our heads and our hearts is kind of like finding the opening in that mess of metal rings. If only we could throw a stick in the spokes of the bicycle so we can stop long enough to get a decent view of things.

In this three part series, the Rebbe, shlit"a, sheds light on this issue in a way that surprisingly brings many more components together. Concepts in Avodas Hashem and Chassidus that have been spoken about many a time before but that I did not have any true clarity on, suddenly began to fall into perspective in a very tangible and applicable way.

While we are all unique and what strikes me as both fundamental and inspiring may not have the same effect on the next person, I venture to guess that these shiurim will give everyone the appropriate context for Divine service and offer a "new" look at some of the most spoken about aspects in Chassidus (Maor Einayim, Emek Tefilah and Pele Yoetz in particular).

Head, Heart, Speech (Part 1)
(Running time: 30 min. - 6.45 MB)


In addition, here is another very important shiur when the Rebbe spoke about "Connective Speech". I am particularly interested in hearing your insights into these shiurim, so please comment or email me. And as always, feel free to share this shiur with a link to the blog. Thanks!

The next two shiurim in the series to follow shortly.

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