Daily Tanya – Chapter 27 Part 3: The service of Iskafya in permitted matters (Thursday, 25th Shevat)

3.      The effect of Iskafya in even permitted matters:

• The Divine service of subjugating evil known as Iskafya is not just limited to withholding oneself from performing matters that are forbidden according to Jewish law but applies even towards withholding oneself from completely permissible matters.
• Whenever a person decides to slaughter his inclination for even a mere moment with intention to subjugate the side of evil that is found in the left ventricle of his heart, this causes the above ripple effect in heaven achieved through Iskafya.
• Delaying one’s meal for Iskafya purposes: For example, when one desires to eat a meal and he delays his meal for an hour or less and instead he studies Torah during that time, he has performed Iskafya through doing so, as the Talmud states that the fourth hour of the day is the time for meals for all people, while the sixth hour of the day is the time of meals for Torah scholars. Hence, we see that the Torah scholars would starve themselves for an extra two hours for the sake of the above intent of performing Iskafya. Hence, although they would study Torah throughout the entire day, even after they finished their meal, they would still delay their meal for the above intent.
• Abstaining from unnecessary speech or thoughts for Iskafya purposes: Another example of performing Iskafya with the permitted is one who holds back his tongue from speaking unnecessary words that his heart very much desires to speak regarding matters of the world. The same applies regarding one who controls his thoughts regarding such matters.
• Even a little Iskafya causes G-d’s glory to shine: While these matters may seem trivial, in truth, even a slight amount of subjugation of the side of evil here below causes the glory of G-d to shine above to a

4.      Iskafya sends one a jolt of Elokus to assist him in his service of G-d:

• The above holiness of G-d which expands and shines throughout the upper worlds as a result of one’s service of Iskafya, also reaches the person below. A supernal holiness resides upon this person below to greatly and immensely assist him in his Divine service.
• On this the sages state that a person who sanctifies himself a little bit below, is sanctified a lot from above.

5.      Iskafya fulfills a positive command to sanctify oneself:

• All the above is aside for the fact that one who withholds himself from even permitted lusts and pleasures fulfills a positive command of the Torah “and you shall be holy.” The meaning of these words “that you shall be holy” is that one should do actions which sanctify and refine him.
• Not fully sanctified, as one retains the natural evil of the heart: Now, the above does not mean that as a result of one’s service of Iskafya one ends up becoming permanently sanctified from evil. In truth, the person is not sanctified and separated from the side of evil as a result of the Iskafya which he performs against his evil inclination, as he still retains his naturally born evil lusts within the left ventricle of his heart in their full strength and power. Nonetheless, for that moment, he is considered to have sanctified himself.

Reaching eventual sanctification from evil: Now, the above verse concludes with the words “and you will be holy.” This is because when a person does Iskafya, Hashem helps him to eventually banish the evil, a little at a time, to the point that he is fully cleansed and separated from the side of evil. This is achieved through G-d sanctifying the person here below, and granting him a great assistance from above, to help banish the evil from his heart one step at a time.