Tanya L’maaseh – Learning + Hisbonenus 

5 min discussion + 5 minutes of quiet hisbonenus – Your weekly hisbonenus gym
 Based on the writings of Reb Shlomo Chaim Kessleman z”l and the Tanya classes of Mrs. Shterna Ginsburg (“Tanya in Real Life”)

Lead by Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

Week #8 – Hisbonenus Summary

1. Am I Tuned In or Tuned Out?

Throughout the day, I can ask:

• Right now, am I aware of Hashem's presence or not?
• What helps me feel connected?
• What causes me to drift into forgetfulness?

The goal is not self-judgment, but increased awareness.

2. My Feelings Are Real, But They Are Not My Identity

When experiencing anxiety, sadness, anger, or discouragement:

• These feelings are happening within me, but they are not me.
• My emotions belong to my current experience, not my essence.
• The neshamah remains whole and connected even when my emotional world feels turbulent.

3. The Animal Soul Is Energy, Not Evil

Reflect on:

• The same drives that can pull me away from holiness can also be redirected toward holiness.
• My ambition, desire, passion, and need for recognition are raw energies.
• My task is not to destroy these drives, but to elevate and channel them.

Like a river, the question is not whether it flows, but where it flows.

4. The Yetzer Hara Wants Me to Confuse Experience with Identity

Notice the difference between:

• "I am anxious" and "I am experiencing anxiety."
• "I am a failure" and "I experienced a failure."
• "I am disconnected" and "I feel disconnected right now."

The yetzer hara's greatest victory is not the struggle itself, but convincing me that the struggle is who I am.

5. My Value Comes From My Neshamah

Spend time contemplating:

• A part of Hashem exists within me at every moment.
• My worth is not earned through success, performance, or approval.
• Before I accomplish anything today, I already possess infinite value because of who I am at my core.

A question to sit with:

If I truly believed my value was unconditional, how would I think, speak, and act differently today?

These five meditations move from awareness, to identity, to the role of the animal soul, to the deception of the yetzer hara, and finally to unconditional value rooted in the neshamah.

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

Tanya L’maaseh – Learning + Hisbonenus 

5 min discussion + 5 minutes of quiet hisbonenus – Your weekly hisbonenus gym
 Based on the writings of Reb Shlomo Chaim Kessleman z”l and the Tanya classes of Mrs. Shterna Ginsburg (“Tanya in Real Life”)

Lead by Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

Week #7 – Hisbonenus Summary

Sit quietly and bring yourself into the moment.

You’re not using Tanya just to “improve yourself,” and not only to “serve Hashem” as something separate.
 Your inner world is your avodas Hashem. Your neshama is not separate from your life—it is the core of it.

Let the question settle:
 Am I living aligned with what’s true—or just trying to manage life?

Now shift to a deeper נקודה:
 “Bad” doesn’t mean broken or disconnected.
 It means unaware.

You are never outside of Hashem.
 אין עוד מלבדו — there is no reality separate from Him.
 The only shift is: awareness or unawareness.

Hisbonenus is the practice of becoming aware.

Gently think:
 Right now, Hashem is here.
 Right now, I am within His presence.
 Nothing is missing—only my awareness.

If it helps, choose a דרך to deepen it:

• Visual: something hidden vs revealed—nothing changed, just uncovered
• Emotional: where am I numb vs feeling present
• Audio: quietly repeat—“Hashem is here”—and let it grow stronger
• Attention: notice drifting, and softly return

No pressure to feel something dramatic.
 Just sit with the truth, and let it become a little more real.

This is the avodah:
 Not becoming something new—
 but becoming aware of what already is.

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

Week #6

1. Spring Board
    The very things that seem to hold a person down can become the force that pushes him upward. Like a kelipa protecting fruit, inner resistance and struggle can conceal deep potential. When a person feels heavy, stuck, or “like earth,” the answer is not self-hatred, but digging deeper — uncovering the hidden wellspring of goodness, encouragement, and deeper light within the soul.
2. Turning on the Light
    The Tanya does not describe struggle to discourage a person, but to prepare him. There will be potholes on the road. Darkness and disconnection are possibilities built into the human condition. But when a person turns on light — awareness, Torah, honesty, vigilance — he can walk around the pit instead of falling into it. The place of greatest messiness may become the place of greatest shining.
3. Essentially Good
    The nefesh habehamis is not inherently evil. Even natural morality, warmth, empathy, and healthy human instincts emerge from it. The animal soul contains enormous energy and life-force. The avodah is not to destroy it, but to guide it, refine it, and place a leash on its tendencies so its strength serves something higher.
4. Seeing the Right Self
    A person becomes shaped by the self he chooses to identify with. One can define himself by failures, impulses, and falls, or by the deeper רצון and goodness within him. The avodah is to look at the higher self as the core identity, and to see struggles as external layers rather than the deepest truth of who he is.

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

Each element isn’t “ugly.” It’s just כוח in an unrefined state:

• Fire → when unrefined: pride, anger, ego
  → when refined: passion, drive, leadership, warmth in avodas Hashem 
• Water → when unrefined: chasing pleasure, comfort, habit loops
  → when refined: ta’anug in kedusha, consistency, emotional connection 
• Air → when unrefined: distraction, escape, floating, wasting time
  → when refined: imagination, רוחניות, vision, the ability to rise above 
• Earth → when unrefined: heaviness, laziness, sadness, stuckness
  → when refined: stability, humility, perseverance, groundedness 

Presenter: Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

Hisbonenus talking points:

The נפש הבהמית, described in Tanya as being in the blood, is not bad—just natural. Just like animals are not bad, my drives are raw energy that need direction, not suppression.

Life is a mixed bag; the same inner forces can either elevate me or pull me down. The עבודה is not to eliminate them, but to guide them toward something higher.

Fire is the only element that naturally rises, and within me this shows up as anger and arrogance. When I feel anger rising, I can recognize it as a movement of ego trying to lift itself up.

As explained in Shaarei Kedusha, arrogance leads to resentment, a desire for honor, and even hatred of those greater than me. When I notice these feelings, I can trace them back to ego and choose a different response.

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

This Week’s Hisbonenus Talking Points

1. The greatness of the neshama
   “ונשמות אני עשיתי” — Hashem Himself created our neshamas. Our inner struggles reflect the depth and importance of the soul.
2. Two voices within us
   We feel pulls toward connection with Hashem and pulls away from Him. The struggle itself is normal and part of avodah.
3. What klipah means
   Klipah is a cover, not a monster. Hashem’s hiddenness creates space for choice and discovery of the good within.
4. What “ra” really means
   In Chassidus, ra means disconnection from Hashem. Avodah is noticing these impulses and returning to connection.

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

1. A neshama comes down with a mission — Tanya helps us see ourselves through the truth of the neshama.

2. Simcha is essential in avodah — not numbness or avoidance of emotions, but a deep joy that comes from our connection to Hashem and the neshama.

3. Tzadik, Rasha, and Benoni describe actions, not who we are.

4. The danger is not only feeling low about ourselves, but also becoming numb and saying “I don’t care.”

5. Lasting growth begins when we change how we see ourselves, connecting to the goodness of the neshama rather than negative labels.

Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

Hisbonenus Talking point (suggestions)

• Deep care of Rabbeim 

• Connecting to Torah requires personal serenity

• Which of the 85,000 self help books published in 2025 is for me (10 years ago it was 30,000 per year)?

• Everyone is different - Over 600,000 basic differentiated perspectives (special berocha) 

• “Feeling” I’m in the presence of the Alter Rebbe, and we are connecting 

• Don’t do it alone 

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah

Hisbonenus Talking point (suggestions)

• Chossid is sitting in front of Rebbe when learning Chassidus

• We each have an איתן Tanya helps us tap into it

• We each have an inner critic to Chassidus - Tanya gently helps us quiet the critic

• Don’t look for “quick fixes” 
   
• Don’t be intimidated with Hashem’s help, guidance from Tanya, and your hard work (hisboneus) it’s doable 

לע"נ אמי מרת פיגא בת בצלאל הכהן ע"ה 

לע"נ מו"ר הרה"ח הרב מיכאל עקיבא גרשון בן רפאל נחמן נחום ע"ה

Tanya L'masseh - Learning + Hisbonenus 

Presenter : Rabbi Betzalel Bassman 

A project of Merkos Torah: Kviyus Itim L'Torah

Take your learning to the next level. Reach out to see which project is the best fit for you - [email protected]

Rabbanus Training - Kollel L'Rabbonei Chabad

Revolutionize your Limud haChassidus - Kollel L'lomdei Dach

Make Chassidus part of your life - Dach L'noshim

In-depth practical halacha - Kollel Aliba D'hilchisa

Transform your davening - Bais Medrash Iyun Tefilah

Master Hilchos Niddah - Kollel L'hilchos Niddah