THE BATTLE FOR THE 'LITTLE CITY'

Dear Family,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying Chanukah.

Mazal Tov to Leora Davidoff on her first birthday BH on Rosh Chodesh. Wishing you a happy year and bringing your parents much nachas.

Mazal Tov Naomi on your birthday next week. Wishing you a happy year with good news for your whole Family.

We have just re-started learning Tanya, one of the Books written by The Alte Rebbe, in its yearly cycle.

And so it is a good opportunity to get to know this very Holy work, which is so essentially needed by ourselves to engage in our inner journeys and battles.

It was written in a way that it is accessible to everyone, no matter what level we find ourselves, and it has been translated into many languages.

Some of the Alte Rebbe's other writings are very deep, intricate and rich, and very hard to understand, but he has written Tanya in a much simpler format.

Every Jew has 2 souls, and they are continually battling with each other to try and take control of 'THE LITTLE CITY' IE THE BODY.

The one soul is animalistic in nature, and the other is G-dly.

The first section of Tanya - Likutei Amarim - describes this battle and teaches us how to engage and understand what is happening within, and help us make correct decisions in our lives.

It starts off with the word Tanya which means 'we have learnt', but tanya also has the same letters as the word etan.

Etan means ancient and strong, and refers to a deep level of our being, which will be revealed with the coming of Mashiach, may this be soon. And the Book Tanya will help us prepare for this.

And what is it that we have learnt (tanya)?

In Nida end of chap 3 it says 'An oath is administered to every Jew in Heaven before he descends to this world - Be righteous and be not wicked, and even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, in your own eyes you should regard yourself as wicked.'

But this requires to be understood because did we not also learn somewhere else (in Pirkei Avot chap 2), 'Be not wicked in your own eyes'. And furthermore if a person sees himself as wicked, he will become depressed and will not be able to serve Hashem with a happy heart?

And, to make things even more complicated, if he is not at all aggrieved by his self appraisal, he may be led to carelessness, and sin without even being perturbed!?

And so if you want to find out how to solve this predicament, please read on in Tanya! It does take many months of work, but it is worth every minute.

Gut Chanukah and Gut Shabbos to all.