למה לשנן תניא בעל פה?

00:00 This is Igros. This is the last in our series of the reason to learn things by heart, our Baal Peh series. Uh, we've seen a lot of letters from the Rebbe right now, up until now, that have talked about the importance of learning really three things by heart, memorizing three things and saying them while we walk down the street. We're seeing it again and again in letters. We're seeing Mishnayos Baal Peh. In our last class, we discussed at length why Mishnayos specifically, the Rebbe has this enormous letter where he explains why specifically Mishnayos, why specifically Mishnayos to bring the Geulah, and the importance of Mishnayos Baal Peh. On top of that, the other thing that we saw is that the Rebbe wants us to know this ma'amar that's in Likutei Torah this week, in this week's Parsha, uh, in Likutei Torah, uh, Parshas Ki Teitzei, uh, vedat b'nei Zelcan. It's a short little ma'amar, and he frequently mentions that you should learn a little bit of Tanya by heart, a little bit of Mishnayos by heart, and a little bit of that ma'amar by heart. And we discussed the reasons why and the significance of learning things by heart and having Torah inside us and being a walking stick Torah, which is a walking stick Eibishter. And we've talked about that at length. The one thing we haven't gotten to do yet, which is what we're going to do today, is the importance of Tanya Baal Peh. We saw this in almost every letter. Almost

00:57 every one of the letters we looked at also said to learn some perakim of Tanya Baal Peh, at least a perek, a couple perakim, Tanya Baal Peh. Today, we're going to do an incredible deep, deep dive into this, and I need to give credit to somebody before I do that, and I forget what they are, so I'm putting it down here. There is a Sefer called Nezer HaTanya Limud HaTanya Baal Peh that HaRav Shmuel Bukiet put out, and I found it on Eitz Chaim, and what he did was he went through not just the letters of the Rebbe, but also Sichas, and also HaTamim, and also, uh, recorded, uh, recorded Yechidus episodes and, uh, other Rebbeim, and he went all over the place, just stories, finding anything that anybody ever said about learning Tanya by heart. Now, obviously far beyond our scope to read the entire-- The book is literally sixty-five pages long. It is a long book of things people said about learning Tanya by heart. So I took a lot of what we have today from that and never reinvent the wheel. You know, sometimes we have to do things ourselves, but not today. I have a lot to show you from Tanya Baal Peh. Some of it are letters, some of it's Sichas. It's all over the place. So without further ado, we're going to start historically. We're gonna go throughout history. We have the Rebbe Rashab. We have one line from the Rebbe Rashab. It's printed in Kitzur VeHa'aras, the Sefer

01:55 HaMa'amarim. It's translated from Yiddish on the screen here, but since it's only one line long, I didn't bother. Perek Tanya Baal Peh, maybe shefa, bracha, v'hatzlacha. When a person learns one chapter of Tanya by heart, this brings shefa, bracha, v'hatzlacha. This brings a flow of blessing and or maybe it could be flow, blessing, and, uh, and, uh, and success or a flow of blessing and success. But in any event, shefa, bracha, v'hatzlacha is usually three separate things. All sorts of wonderful things for people who learn Tanya Baal Peh. There's a letter from the Friediker Rebbe. This is in volume nine of the Friediker Rebbe's letters, page three hundred and eighty-three. The Rebbe says, I'm respond-- The Friediker Rebbe says, Friediker Rebbe's letters, "I'm responding to your letter, "Ed is a tamidim shehayim she, sheyichya bekim bechezim Tanya Baal Peh." That, uh, the students who say that they're, um, bekim then chezim Tanya Baal Peh. They, they, they know Tanya well, and they constantly review it by heart. "Levada he nechadaris Tanya Baal Peh hu osher ve-- osher veosher nafshi." It causes a richness and a satisfaction of the soul. "Tzrich lach zerem shelesh gacho," and you have to constantly review Tanyas that you will not forget. "Val davar, val davar eisaf," and as sort of an additional point, "lei esem perek katam kol shavua." No more than one small chapter every week. The Friediker Rebbe is giving solid advice to students that they shouldn't memorize tons of Tanya every single day. I guess they won't

03:03 have time for their studies. Maybe they won't remember it well if they do it that way. No more than a small chapter every day. "U'perek kadol," and when there is a long chapter, “l’chaleq kamah shavuos,” you should split it up over several weeks. “L’fi ‘eruch hanisgarim le’il,” based on, based on the amounts that are mentioned earlier. “Hashem yitbarach yatzi-- yatzi l'chem,” the gasmis and ruchnis, and Hashem should give them, uh, success in gasmis and in ruchnis. The thing that we have here is osher, osher. We have, uh, we have, uh, uh, happiness and wealth that will come, spiritual happiness and wealth that comes for people-- comes to people who review Tanya by heart and who learn Tanya by heart. We have a sicha from the Friediker Rebbe as well. Then we're gonna dive straight into the Rebbe's stuff. We have a sicha from the Friediker Rebbe. This sicha is, uh, in Sefer HaSichas of Taf Resh, Taf, excuse me, Taf Res Ches Tzadik, page two hundred and fifty-one. This is also printed in the Nezer HaTanya Sefer. A lot of these things are just here and read and be taken. Uh, the Friediker Rebbe told the following story. “D'lavash hai Yehudi, Chasidi, v'shmei Avraham Yitzchak Zar-Zarchin.” Z-Z-Zarchin? Zarchin? I don't know what his name was, but his name was Avraham Yitzchak something. “Hu lavad ha'atz daya, hu mech daya.” He was somebody who made ink, and he sold ink. “It was one time of Habrang on a Yud Tes Kislev,” the Friediker Rebbe tells. “The

04:07 Rebbe year Taf Res Nun Gimel.” He was in the area of my father, so that's the Rebbe Rashab. “Hu yashev et moi zalgi me'einav le'ha'araf.” Uh, he was sitting there crying profusely. “Shala sei kam tudush l'avi admor.” My father asked him, “Madua ata beicha?” Why are you crying? So the Rebbe Rashab asked him, "Why are you crying?" And he answered, "Ani adain nimtza ben Keser L'eser." I'm still found between Keser L'eser. That means I'm still in the Eseret Yemei Teshuva, and, uh, it's now Yud Tes Kislev. I don't know what exactly that means. I guess he-- I, I'm not sure what that means, but in any event, he wasn't ready for Yud Tes Kislev. He was still holding in the days of the Eseret Yemei Teshuva. “Am alai kam tudush l'avi admor.” The, the, my, uh, my father, the Rebbe Rashab said back, "Ani im kanapcha." I'm jealous of you. And Avraham Yitzchak said to him, "You're jealous of me? What are you jealous of me about?" And the Rebbe Rashab said back, "When you go to the market and you sell your ink, uh, you bring your ink for a sale, “B'shaas ma ise cheshun Tanya oy chamesh,” and at that moment, you're thinking about Tanya or maybe Chamesh, “Par is a Tanya batsmey, ven zeh la Tanya batsmey.” Tanya here look for the fame. Then what's walking down the street is not you. What's walking down the street carrying your ink to market is a physical Tanya. There's a second story almost exactly

05:06 like this that's also on the page here where, uh, there's a Pesach. Oh, I'm so bad with last names. Milest- Milesticov- Milesticovovoka. I don't know. I have no idea . I don't know how to say this. I need vowels on surnames. He was, uh, he would- Mlestovka. Really? Are you sure? You're just making things up . “Am idao ve'kam ha'ales vidor yesh.” He would, uh, he would, uh, take chassidus while he was walking. He would talk about vidor yesh. He would talk about chassidus Baal Peh while he was walking. And the Rebbe Rashab said about him, this, uh, “kach gam kishmishu heid ha'koshut v'cheshun Tanya.” Similarly, when someone walks through the marketplace, and they're thinking about Tanya, “Hari hu batsmey haTanya.” When a person walking down-- walks down the street thinking about the Tanya that they know by heart, they are a shtik Tanya walking through the street. So there's a specific ma'ala to knowing Tanya by heart because according to the Friediker Rebbe, you physically become a Tanya walking down the street. There's a letter from our Rebbe. This letter is labeled Gimel Taf Taf Kuf Peh Tes. It's from Taf Tes Kislev, Taf Shin Tes Zayin, and we're just looking at the PS at the very bottom. The PS at the very bottom, let me zoom in a little bit Appears at the bottom says, "I was very happy." "I was very happy to hear that you learned five chapters of Shaarei Yichud V'Emunah, the second book of Tanya, by heart." And this

06:17 is just interesting because usually what we're going to see over and over again is the Rebbe talking about, uh, perakim of regular Tanya, Sefer Shel Benimim. Uh, usually frequently Mamaleh, Perekh Mamaleh, a lot of times the first three perakim, sometimes just the first Perekh, the Hakdama, sometimes the first twelve perakim. This one's a little strange. This person learned the first five perakim of Shaarei Yichud V'Emunah, the second book, by heart. You should also check out that minor we've been talking about so much that talks about the importance of knowing things by heart. And this is very interesting because the Rebbe here is adding something that's not found in the minor. He says, "You'll see from the minor that when you learn Torah, the Torah becomes carved in your mind, and therefore Hashem becomes carved in your mind," and that much is in the minor. But then he adds something. He says, "Also, the Baal Hashmuah, the person who said the Torah that you are memorizing, is also carved in your mind." So in this case, if you learn the Torah of the Alter Rebbe, you're not just walking around with Torah and Hashem in your mind, you're walking around with the Alter Rebbe carved into your mind, which is not dissimilar from what we saw earlier, that when someone learns Tanya by heart, they're a walking Tanya. What the Rebbe's adding here is when someone learns Tanya by heart, they're a walking Alter Rebbe. That is like they're walking around with the Alter Rebbe in

07:23 their head. And the same should, should apply similarly to any Rebbe that you learn their minor. And if you learn a minor from our Rebbe by heart, in the case of our Rebbe, most Mashpi'im agree that this is not supposed to be word for word, but tifen. But in any event, when you know the tifen of a minor from our Rebbe by heart, you're walking around with the Rebbe in your head, and that's something special that's in addition to knowing, for example, Mishnayos Baal Peh, where I suppose it's wonderful to have a Sdom Mishnah Rebbe Meir, yeah? So it's good to have Rebbe Meir, well, in your head as well, but something special about having our Rebbe in our heads. This is a sicha from the Rebbe from the year תשנ"ד. It's from, uh, Adar Rishon. It's printed in, it's printed in Terias Menachem volume eleven on page one nineteen. And the Rebbe tells a story, and the Rebbe does not often tell stories in sichas. This is a special occasion for us, and also it's a cool story. Uh, it's a story about, about, it's a story about Gan Eden. There's a story that the Friediker Rebbe told in the name of the Rebbe Rashab, and it is wild. Because of something the Rebbe Rashab didn't write one time as a sort of reward, when my son does things well, he gets candy. When the, uh, Rebbe Rashab does things well, the Rebbe Maharash, his father, took him to the Heichalos Ha'Olam, took him

08:27 into the higher worlds. He took him on a spiritual journey upward as a reward for doing some good thing. He brought him to a certain level. There's a certain level, up to a certain level, the Rebbe Rashab was able to keep pace with the Rebbe Maharash. At that point, he couldn't take him any further, so he said, like, "You stay here. I'll be back in ten minutes," and he kept on going up. So the Rebbe Maharash keeps on going up, and the Rebbe Rashab, meanwhile, is hanging out in, like, an antechamber, uh, spiritually. Be'in ta'am, so meanwhile, He noticed that there was something very, uh, something really lit up in this room where he was waiting for the Rebbe Maharash to come back. He found that there was a certain Jew there that, uh, was not shayach to be in that heichal according to his level. He saw the Jew, he saw what his level was, and certainly somebody didn't belong in this very special heichal. They were pretty high up, obviously not that high up because the Rebbe Maharash went higher, but higher than pretty high, and there was a Jew there who didn't belong there according to his madrega. So, uh, I'm sorry, I missed a line. When the Rebbe Maharash came back, the Rebbe Rashab asked him, "How did this Yid get to this heichal? He doesn't seem to fit here." And the Rebbe Maharash answered that he is a pashut Yid. He's a simple Jew who does not deserve to be

09:34 in this heichal based on his knowledge base. But he is an expert in Tanya. And he would spend his time saying Tanya by heart, and this bumped him up to a level where he didn't deserve in the next world, specifically the avodah of knowing Tanya well and saying Tanya by heart. The Rebbe says there is a practical lesson from this story. That even when you're missing out on some understanding of Torah, you don't have all the depth there, Nonetheless, you end up producing a light. And you'll end up fi- you'll end up finding yourself one day in a, uh, in a lit up chamber. That where you end up is in a lit up chamber, even if you don't necessarily understand everything that you're saying at the same level as the greatest scholars. So Tanya Baal Peh, also a great way to get into higher heichals. This is, uh, printed, this is something that is printed in, uh, Reb Mendel, the book about Reb Mendel, and Mendel would say this often. I don't know what the source for it is exactly outside of that, but, uh, somebody came to yechidas by the Rebbe, and he asked the Rebbe what he can do to be mekushar to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe answered, "I have advice for you. You should learn Tanya by heart if you want to be mekushar to me." So this is also something for hiskashrus. The Rebbe told somebody in yechidas, "If you want to be mekushar to me, learn Tanya by

10:38 heart." "And then review it while you're walking down the street." "You'll be connected to me." "Because I also review Tanya when I'm walking down the street." So if you wanna be one with the Rebbe, one way to, to create a hiskashrus is to learn Tanya Baal Peh, because that's what the Rebbe does. We get two things from this. First of all, we get that there's hiskashrus through learning Tanya Baal Peh, but we also get is we now know what the Rebbe says when he walks down the street. We saw a letter from the Rebbe where he made a very strong argument for learning Mishnayos while he walks down the street. But it seems the Rebbe's personal hanhaga, according to this, uh, according to this, um, this yechidas, was to learn Tanya when he was walking in the street. We have here a letter from the Friediker Rebbe that talks about the importance of knowing the words very well when you're learning Tanya by heart. So the Rebbe says here, the Friediker Rebbe says, this is in volume nine, page two hundred and forty-four. The Friediker Rebbe says, "I'm responding to your letter." "When it comes to the Seder of learning Tanya by heart." "Everybody who's been doing it up until now should definitely continue, and here's how they should do it. Number one," "First and foremost." Yesh, that's a really good translation, reish v'rishon. Reish v'rishon, first and foremost. People have to work very, very hard to make sure they don't forget. Uh, we're going

11:54 to see a letter from the Rebbe in a second where he talks about the fact that there's a Mishnah that says that it's very, very important not to forget your Torah, it's in Pirkei Avos, we'll look at it there. But the Friediker Rebbe is very worried that people are going to learn Tanya Baal Peh and then they're going to forget it, which unfortunately is a common phenomenon, especially now that we have, uh, we have children all learning Ta- Tanya Baal Peh pretty much. How many of them remember it as adults? The Rebbe is very concerned that they should review constantly so they don't forget. Second. When you're learning Tanya Baal Pe, you have a tendency to, uh, mush some letters together. You have to be very careful to separate the letters and make sure you know the letters that you're learning very well. Along with that, but also to learn, learn new . So the is saying, "I want you reviewing the old stuff 'cause I don't want you to forget. I want you going back through the old stuff to make sure you're not making mistakes, but nonetheless, I also want you to add new stuff." In the following, one small perek every week, an average length chapter every two weeks, and, uh, a long perek acro-across three weeks. And finally-- Oh, not finally, there's two more. But four, excuse me, that's, that's, that's. You should also learn the letters that are in Tanya. Uh, I'm not sure that's . It might be the

12:59 letters that are printed in Tanya. I don't know what that is. It's either the letters that are printed in Tanya or . Um, the reason why I'm saying it's not a is it doesn't say it. But there are individuals, but there are some people who just aren't good at memorizing things, and I know that there are people listening to this right now who have hated the last two. Hate might be a strong word, but hated the last two and this one because this just isn't their strong suit. So if you are such a person, they should nonetheless make a seder in Tanya where they learn Tanya in depth. So there are some people who are bad at memorizing things. I would argue that even if you're very bad at memorizing things, almost certainly you can learn at least one perek Mishnah, one perek Tanya by heart and review while you're walking in the street. But obviously, some people are just, are just crazy at this. They're crazy good at learning Tanya Baal Pe or learning Mishnah Baal Pe. They should learn more, and it goes like that. The Rebbe has a letter that also talks about the importance of diyuq in Tanya, making sure that when you learn Tanya, you learn it properly and don't make mistakes. This letter is Alef, Tav, Tav, Nun, Tes. It's from Tes, and if we scroll all the way down, I believe I highlighted this somewhere. But if I didn't, I'll find it real quick. I didn't make a

14:01 mark on the page. Uh, we're gonna have to go looking for it. One second. Here we go. We're over here. Since you mentioned in your letter, that there are certain mistakes in your re-- in your, uh, reviewing of Tanya. You-they've been learning Tanya Baal Pe since you were a kid, and mistakes have snuck in. If you check the letter from the, I believe it's the one that we just read. Maybe it's not, a slightly different letter. There is a, but that's Tanya. Tanya is like the of . You should make a seder starting now to correct the mistakes that you've been making in Tanya. This is . You can't afford to make word mistakes in your-- in the Tanya that you know by heart, and from now until the day of your birthday, you should work very hard to make sure that you've repaired these, uh, these mistakes. I don't think we're gonna do that one right now. We'll keep on reading later. Uh, this is the letter that I thought we were looking at. See, I told you I highlighted something. This letter is Alef, Tav, Tav, Quf, Ayin, and here again, the Rebbe talks about the importance of not forgetting Tanya, of knowing it well. So we're gonna go all the way down to Tes. This is a letter from the Rebbe, Alef, Tav, Tav, Quf, Ayin, from, uh, other, um, from. Alef to Tes. And we're going down to entry Tes. In entry Tes, the Rebbe says, "But when you're writing it

15:28 to me about, uh, about Tanya Baal Pe, you know, you wrote to me, you were, you were writing a report of students learning Tanya Baal Pe. You told me that there are some individual students who knew Tanya Baal Pe pretty well, and they've forgotten it since then." And the Rebbe's very concerned about this, as was the . Certainly, you should find the right words to encourage them to get their Tanya back that they have lost. Even though it's harder to learn things that, uh, learn things when you're-- I, I think we learn things that are older when than when you're younger, but it also could mean, this literally means it's harder to learn old than new. So it could be older than younger. It also could be that it's harder to, uh, to learn something you've already learned before 'cause it's not a anymore in your mind. In any event, it's gonna be difficult to get back what you've lost. Nonetheless, there is incredible severity to forgetting the things that you've learned. This is a Mishnah, a person who does that as though that they, they're, they're responsible for their own death. It's a death sentence to forget the Torah that you've learned. The truth is the Mishnah is not speaking about these people. Because these people forgot their Torah for reasons that are mentioned by the Alter Rebbe. The context that we need for this, we don't have much time to dive into it, although I did bring it here in case you were

16:42 curious, and it is, uh, it is in your packet on the WhatsApp group if you wanna, uh, see what the Alter Rebbe says in Hilchos Talmud Torah. But the Mishnah itself already says, "This is only, uh," somebody who sits down and intentionally forgets the Torah that they've learned, they get an incredible punishment for that. But normal people who forget because, because it got difficult to keep all that Torah in their heads, there's not anything like the same level of . And that's what the Alter Rebbe says here in Hilchos Talmud Torah. So the Rebbe says, "I'm sure that they're not gonna get in big trouble for forgetting the Tanya that they've learned because I'm sure nobody sat down and consciously tried to forget Tanya." At the same time, there's a on it, so you have to make sure to try to review so that you don't forget the Tanya that you've learned. Now, in this sefer that I've told you about, V'homer Abukit, there is a, uh, and this is the, this is the table of contents for it, and there is a very long list Of letters from the Rebbe about how learning Tanya Baal Peh specifically is a segula for literally everything. I can't go through all of them, nor do I think you want me to go through all of them, but I did wanna go down the list and tell you I read all of these letters to see what was in them, and every single one of these specifically says

17:37 if you learn Tanya Baal Peh, you'll get the following advantages. Let me just read them off. There is, uh, there's at least one letter about how it will improve your davening, one about how it will improve teshuva, another one about Kabbalas Ol, Machshava Zaras, Machshava Ziviva, that is, uh, thought and speech that should be for Hashem. Uh, more internal of it, you'll be more of a Hasid, and also the ability of "...," the brain will, will, will be able to conquer the heart. We have letters which you can look up in this book that, uh, that, that pertain to every single one of these points. Also, by Seudat Mitnah, uh, you'll be able-- you'll have a better time fighting the Yetzer Hara, no more of the, uh, issues that come with Shmiras HaBris. Um, you'll have an easier time with Shem Haharah, strengthen your Bitachon, uh, you'll, you'll be able to use your time better, uh, you'll avoid, uh, you'll avoid Kapha Kelah. Uh, it actually says Kibud HaKever here, but if you look in the, uh, in the letter itself, Kibud HaKever, he gives a different cure for, but Kapha Kelah, it does cure. Um, it helps with Emunah, it helps with, uh, Midis Teves, it gets rid of Amalek, even if there are people who are trying to knock you down or discourage you in your work, learn a little Tanya Baal Peh, you'll blast them away. If you live in an environment that you think is inappropriate, you don't like the people

18:33 around you, you think they're no good, start saying Tanya Baal Peh. You fix the Avi, you also fix the Kehillah. Uh, when it comes to health, he talks about how it helps with memory. We actually saw a couple of those letters, how learning things Baal Peh helps with memory. It helps with all sorts of mental conditions from, uh, from, from feeling a sense of despair, that's more or less what he uses. It helps with anger and with Gaavah. It helps with, uh, depression. It helps with fear. It helps with, uh, disorganized feeling or, uh, or stressed feeling. It helps for Tikun, for all sorts of sins, including Chatas Erim, including, uh, harming other people, missing Rebbeinu Tam Tfilin, finding that your mezuzah is fossil. The Rebbe has letters and letters and letters about this. Abriyas Haguf, when it comes to the body, this isn't even the complete list here. The index is not complete. When it comes to physical health, he says that it fixes the kidneys because, uh, "...," from Pereg Mamalef from Tanya. It fixes the heart, it fixes the feet, it fixes all sorts of broken bones. If people are injured, learning Tanya Baal Peh is a, is a, is a way to, is a way to cure, is a way to cure a disease. I mean, uh, it's, it's a way out of military service, the Rebbe Dashah told people who are, were gonna be drafted. Just the list of things you get for Tanya Baal Peh, it goes on and

19:30 on and on. But in order to not just whet your palate, uh, and make you excited about this, but also show you two of them, I did pull two such letters from this list, from this long list of segulas of learning Tanya Baal Peh. One of them is about Tikun Hamiddas, and one of them is about anger. We're gonna look at those, and with that, we will conclude. So, uh, we have here letter, the letter is labeled Gimel, Kuf Ayin Gimel, and it's from Vav Teves of Tavshin Tes Vav. And the Rebbe writes, “Mashkez zeres Tikun Hamiddos." You tell me that you're not comfortable with your Middos. You think you're not as good a person as you could be. "Hin yomon am in as mahaven." You have to learn in order to understand. "Teres a chassidis mein Marom im daviden ben avion zias es." You should learn for Havana, mein Marom in chassidis that discuss these Iniyanim, that discuss Tikun Hamiddos. "Ashe b'tzach yucha le'sha l'lam ta'etsel," uh, this certain Rav a Hasid, uh, dot, dot, dot. He doesn't say who he is, but certainly this Mashpia you can speak to about which Marom to learn to help strengthen this. Okay, and then he adds, "Shiyavi lamen Baal Peh, has chalas Tanya Kedisha, Pereg Mem Alef, al kafanim, ad daf Nun Vav, Reish Amud Beis, Shura Beis." So the Rebbe says, "Also, though, if you have a problem with Tikun Hamiddos, in addition to learning the Chassidis and speaking to a Mashpia, that will help

20:28 direct your Middos in the right direction. I also want you to learn Tanya by heart, at least Pereg Mem Alef, at least the forty-fir-- forty-first chapter, Chapter forty-one, until page fifty-six at the beginning of Amud Beis." It's only a couple lines, actually, Shura Beis. "Yesh nazel le'atzma be'peach eis matzoi, ve'im me'at or derech halacha be'chei she'chalah zachas kamakama har, ve'eretz." A little bit of light can banish a lot of darkness. Imagine what a giant light will do to any darkness inside you. So you're not sure about your Middos, bring Tanya into your heart, and this is a giant light that will smash away all the problems. This advice here, another reason why I wanted to show you this letter, this is one of, I mean, literally a hundred places, probably literally a hundred places, where the Rebbe says that the top priority for learning Tanya by heart is Pereg Mem Alef, the beginning, up till the word Hamelech. Uh, this is something that, uh, people are supposed to do Sefirat HaOmer before davening. Reb Shlomo Haim gave this as the main advice for his Sefiras HaOmer before davening, was specifically this Pereg of Tanya. The Rebbe, when he tells people to learn Tanya Baal Peh, constantly says Pereg Mem Alef. Uh, although, of course, all Tanya Baal Peh is wonderful. People like Lamed He, go for it. Uh, the first twelve chapters is pretty standard. Uh, the first three chapters consist of one Limers, that's also quite standard, including the Hakdama, of course, uh, the

21:30 first chapter of Tanya. But if you really wanna know where to go, if you have not learned Tanya Baal Peh in a while, going back to Pereg Mem Alef or at all, going back to Pereg Mem Alef, chapter forty-one, would definitely be the top priority if you look at the sum total of the letters. The last one I wanna show you is about anger. Just, uh, an interesting one that I pulled out of this very long laundry list of segulas you get for learning Tanya by heart. This letter is labeled Hey, Taf Kuf Peh Ches, and it is from Ches Tammuz of Tav Shin Yod Zayin. The Rebbe says, "I'm responding to your letter from Tes Vav Zayin. You wrote to me that sometimes you have anger issues." Uh, "Hini Yachsev Baal Peh, Tanya Reish Pereg Mem Alef. In order to cure your anger issues, you should learn Tanya by heart, specifically the beginning of chapter forty-one, which is Pereg Alef, Kuf Yod Beis, Shura Sheni Teves Lidne'em Elef." So that's the place the Rebbe always tells people to stop, is Pereg Mem Alef until the word Lidne'em Elef. It's all said, I don't know, about fifteen lines, ten lines, fifteen lines. I believe in, uh, Beis Levi Yitzchak, the shul in Upper Pomona, they had it on the wall. I mean, it's a significant section of Tanya that's, uh, that's very central to what it is to be a Hasid. "Kein, ivakash es madrich sh'leim, she's var le'klal, sefech she'yeger et hakodesh." He also

22:27 says that you should, you should ask your madrich in camp supposedly to, uh, presumably to explain a certain section of Yeger et hakodesh, chapter twenty-five, uh, whenever you feel angry. And also you should, whenever you feel angry, review that and review the time you've been doing Baal Peh, and that will help you get rid of your anger. We actually did a whole igras here just on managing anger, and this was a recurring point from the Rebbe, that was that, uh, learning Torah Baal Peh and then reviewing it when you're angry is a way to make your anger go away. Uh, partially just because, as the Rebbe says in a lot of other letters on anger, the more time you take to just sit down and wait, the more your anger dissipates. Usually, anger doesn't last very long, and, uh, no reason not to spend that time productively, specifically by bringing light into yourself, specifically by bringing, as we saw earlier, the Alter Rebbe into yourself while learning Tanya Baal Peh. So we have a lot of examples from the Rebbe Dashah, from the Friediker Rebbe, all the way through many, many works of the Rebbe explaining the importance specifically of Tanya Baal Peh, which I thought was very important for us to talk about because we made a very strong argument last time for Mishnayos Baal Peh, and I still feel very strongly about Mishnayos Baal Peh, but there is definitely a very strong argument also for Tanya Baal Peh. As far as which one

23:26 is preferable, I've gotta say, when I look at the sum total of the Rebbe's letters on this topic, uh, and now thank-- with, with, with, with God's help, I, I probably have looked at fifty to a hundred of these letters having to do with learning Torah Baal Peh. Uh, almost all of them say Tanya and Mishnayos, Tanya and Mishnayos, Tanya and Mishnayos, as if they're both important, um, as if they're both about equally important. Uh, but something that does really come out all over the place is the Rebbe says very frequently when learning things by heart, specifically, "Makom sh'libech af itz matters," that it's very hard to memorize things, learn things by heart, and get anything out of it if you're not enjoying yourself. So my best guess from looking at the sum total of these letters is that Mishnayos and Tanya have pretty much equal footing when it comes to a priority objectively, and the way to make the best decision as to which one to tackle first or which one to tackle, uh, with the most, with the most, uh, vigor, because it looks to me like the Rebbe wants everybody to at least have one Pereg of each. But after you have one Pereg of each down, which one to really throw yourself in? I've gotta say, I, I, I think it's makom sh'libech af itz. The Rebbe says in a lot of letters that whichever part you enjoy more is the one you're going to have more hatzlacha in, and that

24:23 certainly should apply here as well. So it looks like practical advice that comes out of the letters as a shita is that everybody, every Hasid, no matter who they are, no matter where they are, should know at least one chapter of Mishnah and at least one chapter of Tanya by heart as a baseline. And then as to where you really run with it and expand your knowledge of Mishnayos or Tanya, that should probably depend on which one you enjoy more. And either way, you get incredible berachos, as we've discussed throughout this year and throughout the prior shiurim, incredible berachos for your life. May those berachos be mekuyam, and people learn Torah Baal Peh. Okay, that's it.