On Sunday night, January 5, Let’s Get Real with Coach Menachem featured Rabbi Naftali Silberberg, lecturer and author, director of the curriculum department at the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute.
Rabbi Silberberg said, “When you learn Torah you are not learning about someone else or some other place. You’re always learning about yourself.” Whatever you learn is real for your life. “Tanya is about reality.” Many people say that their lives have changed by learning Tanya.
He quoted a rav who said that when you learn a perek of Tanya, you become a new person if you learn it well. Rabbi Silberberg shared that Tanya is unique. It contains answers to questions on avodas Hashem. Its purpose is to help you overcome any obstacle you have in your avodas Hashem. Moshe Rabbeinu taught that all the mitzvos that Hashem gave are practical.
Tanya teaches a person to become the master of himself and to be able to overcome his challenges so he can serve Hashem. “That is what Tanya is all about.” It has five parts. There are 53 chapters in the first part. It’s a program in life. It gives you a different mindset that helps you overcome adversity – primarily internal adversity.
One of the biggest ideas is that we connect to Hashem in two ways; doing mitzvos and learning Torah. There is no other way to connect to Him. When you learn Torah or perform mitzvos, then you are connected to Hashem. Tanya is relevant to everyone.
Someone asked if it would be helpful for a person with a psychological or psychiatric disorder. Rabbi Silberberg said that everyone can benefit from Tanya, and this can be in conjunction with therapy, if needed. Tanya helps you to understand why you are here in this world and what your mission is and your importance. It helps you to understand more clearly the nature of your struggles and why you have them and how to deal with them.
He taught that everything in life is about priorities. Mastery means doing things even when it is difficult. Tanya helps you deal with guilt in a healthy way so that it doesn’t become debilitating. It also teaches how to deal with shame and how to look at yourself in the right way. It is important to have a rabbi or someone to guide you in learning Tanya.
The Alter Rebbe taught that there are two types of people in klal Yisrael. Some are born with very high neshamos, and this is a minority. They have the ability to become someone who doesn’t struggle anymore. This person is considered a tzadik. Most people can’t achieve that status, and most people will always struggle. If a person who struggles succeeds, then he is a beinoni. This person has self-mastery despite personal struggles. The purpose of Tanya is to help people have self-mastery, and to become a beinoni. So, it is fine to struggle. Don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to be a tzadik who doesn’t struggle. This is unrealistic and sets you up for frustration. Frustration is the result of not meeting expectations. Our job is that despite the struggles we have, we do what Hashem wants. Our job is not to have no struggles.
Rabbi Silberberg taught that you must be at peace with your struggles, knowing you have a mission and purpose. Tanya provides tools and strategies for doing the right thing even while dealing with struggles. He said that we all have our tzadik moments. Tanya teaches how to manage struggles and how to prevent them from getting you down.
By Susie Garber