Daily Tanya
Tanya for the 30th of Cheshvan ל' חשון
Then the final point here is, going back to what we were discussing initially, in-valid prayer, and let's contrast it to Torah study, but not like Torah study just studied as we would say, "stumb," without really much going on in your head or heart. We're talking about Torah study for wrong reasons. Why would someone study Torah for wrong reasons? For self-aggrandizement, everyone should think you're great. If you get a certain job, you should earn money off the Torah. You utilize the Torah for your own benefit. Let's consider very, very, very negative. So if someone is praying mindlessly and heartlessly, that's still a lot better than someone studying deliberately utilizing the Torah to help themselves, not to help the Torah, not to ask God, but for their own aggrandizements. Because when it's for your own selfish reasons, that Torah study is stuck. As we mentioned yesterday briefly, it's stuck in evil. And until you do a complete repentance, it's stuck. But the prayer prayed just because you know you're supposed to pray, we suggest you that prayer is not stuck. And eventually, when you pray correctly, these prayers also will rise. So from that perspective, invalid prayer is far higher than Torah study for self-benefit. But, we're speaking not about Torah study for self-benefit, but as we more discussed yesterday, Torah studied, because that's what you're supposed to do. You're doing what you're supposed to learn. You're not especially impassioned, you're not especially inspired, your mind's not like thinking of God, your heart's not thinking of God, but you're praying, you're learning. The therapist says, "No, no, no, no, no, no, good stuff is going on here. How do I know this? Why are you learning? Why are you choosing to learn now?" You're choosing to learn because you love God. Even though this is habitual study, you do this every night, you're not especially inspired now, you're just doing your routine. If you didn't have a latent love for God, why would your routine mean you study his Torah? So even though you don't feel any inspiration in your mind or heart, subconsciously, it's there. There's a love for God there. If there wasn't, why would you be doing this? So there are four when you study, but nothing inspiring you, but nothing negative going on. That Torah study is elevated and they're going to compare it to the children, the small school children, that they're in school and the only reason they're learning is because they're scared of their teacher and in the olden days of the width of their teacher. And yet we're told that the breadth of their Torah study is brought above, is ascended to very high ascension by the angels because it's such pure breath, untainted by any sin. It's the breadth of a child. So here, this breadth is not altruistic. The reason the child's learning is not because they're thinking of God because they're thinking of the teacher and they don't want to get in trouble. But still, it's pure breath, it's breath untainted by sin and the angels take those breaths of words of Torah and bring it up to the highest heavens. So similarly, there ever says, someone who's studying Torah neutrally, not with a passion for God and not for personal benefit and self-interest and aggrandizment, it's just like that child. There is a lot of purity there. There is love of God, though you don't think so. And because of that, this Torah study too ascends heavenward. I think that's a great advocacy for many of us that many times we might not be, sometimes we are, but many times we're not spiritually inspired and thinking in our hearts of flame and our minds of flame, we're just doing the good things we do all the time and we might be burdened by lots of other things in our lives and not even really focusing very much on the good we're doing. But we do it. The room says, hello, this is beautiful, this is so pure. If you didn't want God, why would you be doing these good things? You could be doing something else. Why are you doing this? Why are you learning right now Torah? You could be, you know, on your couch reading a magazine or watching a movie, why are you learning? Why are you doing that? Why are you doing this good thing? Your heart's not in it. Fine. You're still doing a good deed. Why are you doing it? Because you love God. And even right now you're not feeling your love of God because you love God, therefore even when you're not in the mood and you're not inspired and you're not focused, you go out and you help people, you give charity, you have compassion, you're kind, you're loving, you're full of good deeds. All of those good deeds, the Renaissance, really are motivated by love of God. You know, inside of He who is right, dream that the moment, but the love of God is why you do it. And therefore all of those good deeds are brought ahead the moment.