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TANA DEVEI ELIYAHU
Rav Onan רב ענן
The Talmud in tractate Kesuvos page 105b
גמרא מסכתא כתוּבוֹת דף קה עמוּד ב
This was written about 1800 years ago . That a man from out of town once gave Rav Onan a basket of small fish as a present, Rav Onan asked why have you come into town, he said because he has to go to court . This was at a time in Jerusalem where the Judges in the courts where Rabbis and Rav Onan was one of the Judges . Rav Onan said, if he takes this present of fish from him, he cannot judge his case, as it will be considered a form of bribery . So Rav Onan passed the case onto another judge Rabbi Nachman, who simply thought that this man must be a friend or relative of Rav Onan (and that was why he could not judge the case), and so he subconsciously gave him preferential treatment in the hearing order and moved his case forward, in front of another judgement case of orphans which he delayed until later .
When people heard this in the courthouse they where amazed and dumb-founded that the other side in litigation was speechless and felt in awe and fear to present their case properly . The Torah - Bible always emphasises that all litigants be treated equally with no special favours or preferential treatment . In consequence to this, the Prophet Eliyahu Hanavi who came regularly to Rav Onan to learn with him , (as he was exceedingly holy , pure and sincere Rabbi ) . However , because of this misunderstanding and consequences for other people, Eliyahu stopped coming to teach Rav Onan . Rav Onan fasted and cried, and realised what had happend, it was just a mistake.... a resulting misunderstanding and consequence of his actions . He repented and made good the situation that occured and Eliyahu ( Elijah the prophet) returned to teach him .
Tana Devei Eliyahu תנא דבי אליהוּ
are the spiritual teachings of Eliyahu Hanavi to Rav Onan.
The tradition is to learn and read this book in LOSHON HAKODESH - hebrew, however for the moment let me give you an insight to some of the basic teachings .
Everything that happens in this world , happens not by accident nor by chance , but an exact calculation according to God's spiritual laws . A good deed is repaid with another good deed , and a bad deed with bad occurence . And all the balancing up is accurate . If one stole or cheated money , then money will be stolen or lost . Sometimes the balancing up of life is done daily , sometimes over years , and sometimes over lifetimes. ( We shall discuss this more on the website www.gilgulim.com of Reb Chaim Vital )
One of the most spiritual teachings of the Book תנא דבי אליהוּ is the principal:-
If somethings happens once , then it will happen again , a second time .
If for example you visit a place, then you should know you will visit it again, if not in this lifetime then in the next life you have on earth, or maybe now is the second time and hence you have the feeling of "Deja Vu" that you have been here before . Have you ever felt that you know a place or have been there before ? Well it maybe that you have been there once before and this is your second time . Similarly you may have an instantaneous feeling about someone, its simply your soul inside you reliving and reconnecting your life experiences together , in order to fulfill this spiritual law . Siimilarly if you want to return to a place , do something special once there and magically something will happen to bring you back to that place .
Below is the section in original Hebrew from Tana Devei Eliyahu Zuta Chapter 3 paragraph 4 .תנא דבי אליהוּ זוּטא פרק ג .with thanks to ESHKOL printers in israel who print this book .
To translate:- "If a person makes himself to be a righteous person and speak the truth , he is given an Angel who guides him along the path of righteous people and truth is always spoken to him . If a person makes himself to be wicked, to corrupt and speaks lies , then an angel will be attached to him who will corrupt him and tell lies ......... If a person makes himself a "chossid" an especially kind person and thoughtful person , and puts up with everything painful, then an angel is given to the person which can also guide along the pathway of the exceedingly righteous and gives the strength to sustain any pain" .
To explain in simple words:- each of us has two guardian angels , similarly to having friends . If you treat your friends nicely then they stay with you , if you lie and cheat your friends , they will go away , and other types of friends will befriend you , probably low life - cheats and liars . If however , you move up the social ladder by dressing smartly, talking eloquently , then you will automatically attract different type of friends .
Similarly and even more so with Angels , our thoughts words and actions have a profound affect . And as i have explained in the page on re-incarnation from Reb Chaim Vital , the major gift we have over the animal kingdom is our ability to speak , hence our guardian angels are monitored and given to guide us, depending on the way we use the power of speech . Lies and deceit is so abhorant and unacceptable that it induces from spirit world the worst consequences . In Talmud Sanhedrin page 90a , it clearly says one who speaks gossip (even if its true) against another loses any right to his place in spirit world . And so the Tana Devei eliyahu teaches us that gossiping, telling lies , ruins and corrupts a person soul , so much that angels are given to the person, to corrupt their lives even more . And as a direct consequence that the person has abused the power of his/her speech that the persons prayers are not answered.
Conversely , it makes the ability to change for the better - so simple.
Just tell the truth, be 100% careful with every word, then good guides and angels will guide and protect you . Which is explained on the page on "CHANGE" . and in SEFER SHINUYIM .
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The Important principle of Pairs / Duality and Two types of people
The Sefer explains that this world is a world of PAIRS.
Everything that is on this Earth occurs in pairs
The specific energy of planet earth is the number 2, everything on earth arrives and comes in PAIRS. Our physical body contains TWO of everything, we belong in pairs, a male and female exists in every living entity on planet earth. The creative energy of our planet is LOVE , and this LOVE energy can only be created with at least one other entity or person . You have to have something to LOVE , in order to create and perform an action .
Similarly we are given two guardian angels to help balance our soul . These two angels work together to create the energy and opportunities in our life, to guide us to have a purposeful and fulfilling life.
The TANA DEVEI ELIYAHU in section on spiritual laws of astrology, explains that all actions in our lives, have an energy of happening in pairs . "If it happens once - it will happen twice" . The first letter of the TORAH is a Beis - Bet , the second letter of the alphabet , to indicate as a sign to mankind that this world is based on pairs and the number TWO .
There are two types of people in this world .
The first and most wonderful category is the HONEST group, which basically means when you are nice to them they are nice in return , when you are horrible to them they are horrible in return . When you ask them a question, you are given the honest answer in return . The intrinsic goodness of this group, will always make you feel alive and happy . And when you hear something good has happend to anyone of this group, you too - feel the happiness . Conversely when something bad happends you feel their sorrow and pain . The honest group person, will always find ways to be nice and compliment, saying nice constructive words, always looking for the goodness in people, they will always exude, radiate love and happiness, even in the face of adversity .
The other group of people in this world are the DECEITFUL (liars) people, which basically means when you are nice to them they are horrible in return , when you are horrible to them they are nice in return . When you ask them a question, you are given lies and deceit in return . The intrinsic deceit and twistedness of this group, will always make you feel drained and sad (unless you are of the same type - in which case you feel re-assured and happy mixing with them, as you will always end up gossiping and slandering good people, and re-assuring yourselves that your lifestyle is the correct one ) . And when you hear something good has happend to anyone of this group - you feel a sadness or indifferent . And when something bad happens to this group, you either feel happy or indifferent .
The good thing about being in the honest group, is that in a short time of speaking to the other deceitful group, you "instinctively know" who they are, your guides and angelic helpers, give you the feeling . And in the conversation with them, they lie or contradict themselves and you catch them out . This is the protection given to you by GOD . A deceitful person will always lie, they cannot help themselves, it is natural for them . They are always caught out by the honest group of people . There will always be signs along the way, they may cheat of their husbands/wives, at work they will be lazy, sleeping on the job or time wasting etc..or as bosses they will abuse their staff and never show appreciation, continue cheating and fiddling their staff out of money ... basically they have no morals or ethical standards, and they don't trust anyone because they themselves are not to be trusted .
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See the full book in Hebrew - coming soon
The complete Sefer Tana Devei Eliyahu .
ספר תנא דבי אליהוּ רבא וזוּטא
בלשוֹן הקוֹדש
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The translation & audio lessons of the Sefer Tana Devei Eliyahu
will begin in Spring 2008
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