Tevet 11, 5783 · January 4, 2023 Today's Tanya Lesson Likutei Amarim, beginning of Chapter 10
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Tevet 11, 5783 · January 4, 2023
Today's Tanya Lesson
Likutei Amarim, beginning of Chapter 10
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After
elaborating in the previous chapter on the ongoing battle between the divine
and animal soul over mastery of a Jew’s body, the Alter Rebbe now proceeds to
explain that one who vanquishes his animal soul and transforms its evil into
good — is a tzaddik.
This level of
tzaddik comprises two general categories. The “perfect tzaddik,”
also called the “tzaddik who knows only good,” is he who has
transformed all the evil of his animal soul to good; while he who has not
completely eradicated and converted the evil within him is termed “an imperfect
tzaddik” and “a tzaddik who knows (i.e., possesses some
vestige of) evil.”
The
difference between the two sets of descriptive terms — “complete” and
“incomplete” tzaddik, and the tzaddik “who knows only good”
or “who knows evil” — is as follows. The former set describes the degree of the
tzaddik’s love of G‑d, for it is this love that earns for him the
title “tzaddik”. In the case of the “complete tzaddik” it is
a complete and perfect love; while the love of the “incomplete tzaddik”
is imperfect. The latter set of terms refers to the conversion of the animal
soul’s evil to good; an individual in whom it has been entirely transformed is
termed “a tzaddik who knows only good,” whereas one in whom a vestige
of evil remains is termed “a tzaddik who knows evil.”
It goes
without saying that “evil” in this context refers only to the promptings of
evil that may be harbored in the heart; not, of course, to actual evil
expressed in thought, speech, or action.
והנה כשהאדם מגביר
נפשו האלקית
When a person causes his
divine soul to prevail over the animal soul,
ונלחם כל כך עם
הבהמית עד שמגרש ומבער הרע שבה מחלל השמאלי
and when he wages war
against the animal soul to the extent that he banishes and eradicates its evil
from its abode within him, namely, the left part [of the
heart],
כמו שכתוב: ובערת
הרע מקרבך
as is written:1 “And you shall eradicate the evil
from your midst,” which implies that one ought to eradicate
the evil within himself;
(The
person who has in fact eradicated evil from his heart has not only banished the
external, practical expression of evil — evil thoughts, words or
actions — but has eradicated the evil itself: it has no place in his heart; he
no longer desires evil.)
ואין הרע נהפך לטוב
ממש
as
to one who achieves this goal, but finds that the evil has
nevertheless not actually been converted into good,
in which case his entire capacity for desire would now be directed only toward
good and holiness; since with him this is not the case,
נקרא צדיק שאינו
גמור
he is called “an
incomplete tzaddik.”
וצדיק ורע לו,
דהיינו שיש בו עדיין מעט מזער רע בחלל השמאלי
[He is also called] “a tzaddik
who knows evil,” meaning that some vestige of evil still lingers within him, in
the left part [of his heart],
אלא שכפוף ובטל
לטוב מחמת מיעוטו
except that
it finds no expression at all, not even in evil desires, because [the evil,] by reason of
its minuteness, is subjugated and nullified by the good,
and cannot therefore be sensed.2
ולכן נדמה לו כי
ויגרשהו וילך לו כולו לגמרי
Hence, he
(the tzaddik) may imagine that he has driven it out and it has quite
disappeared.
אבל באמת אלו חלף
והלך לו לגמרי כל הרע שבו, היה נהפך לטוב ממש
In truth, however, had
all the evil in him departed and disappeared, it would have been converted into
actual good.3
This requires
explanation: Perhaps the incomplete tzaddik feels no desire for evil
because he indeed no longer has any evil, having converted it to good; why must
we say that he only imagines himself to be altogether free of evil?
To explain
this, the Alter Rebbe continues with a clarification of the term “complete tzaddik.”
The explanation in brief:
As stated in
the previous chapter, the complete tzaddik is able to convert his evil
to good only by dint of his great love of G‑d, a love known as “love of
delights.” Accordingly, the “incomplete tzaddik,” who has yet to
attain to this lofty level of love, has obviously not yet accomplished this
conversion.
“Love of
delights,” then, is the ultimate criterion of where the tzaddik stands
vis-a-vis the eradication of his evil.
In the Alter
Rebbe’s words:
וביאור הענין
The explanation of the
matter is as follows:
כי הנה צדיק גמור
שנהפך הרע שלו לטוב, ולכן נקרא צדיק וטוב לו
A “complete tzaddik,”
in whom the evil has been converted into good, and who is consequently called
“a tzaddik who knows [only] good,”
הוא על ידי הסרת
הבגדים הצואים לגמרי מהרע
has
attained this level by completely removing [his] filthy garments from evil.
דהיינו למאוס מאד
בתענוגי עולם הזה, להתענג בם בתענוגות בני אדם
This means: he despises
utterly the pleasures of this world, finding it repugnant to derive from them that
pleasure which other people derive,
למלאת תאות הגוף
בלבד, ולא לעבודת ה׳
namely,
the pleasure of merely gratifying the physical appetite, instead of
using this pleasure toward the service of G‑d.
For physical
pleasures dedicated to serving G‑d are in fact holy; e.g., the pleasure of
“enjoying the Shabbat” with food and drink. It is not such pleasure that
is repugnant to the tzaddik, but pleasure for the sake of
self-indulgence.
מפני היותם נמשכים
ונשפעים מהקליפה וסטרא אחרא
He
despises such pleasures for they are derived from and receive their
spiritual sustenance from the kelipah and sitra achra,
the very antithesis of holiness.
וכל מה שהוא מהסטרא
אחרא, הצדיק גמור הוא שונאו בתכלית השנאה
For the “complete tzaddik”
utterly hates whatever is of the sitra achra,
מחמת גודל אהבתו
לה׳ וקדושתו, באהבה רבה בתענוגים וחיבה יתרה הנזכרים לעיל
because of his great
love, a “profuse love of delights,” and his superior degree of affection for G‑d
and His holiness, as mentioned above (in ch. 9, where the
Alter Rebbe explained that “love of delights” is the ultimate level in the love
of G‑d). To resume: Because of the tzaddik’s
great love for G‑d and holiness he utterly hates the kelipah
and sitra achra —
כי הם זה לעומת זה
since they,
i.e., holiness and kelipah, are antithetical;
his love of G‑d therefore evokes a commensurate degree of hatred for sitra achra.
כדכתיב: תכלית שנאה
שנאתים, לאויבים היו לי, חקרני ודע לבבי וגו׳
So it is written:4 “I hate them with a consuming
hatred, says King David of those who oppose G‑d, they have become enemies
to me; search me, he says to G‑d, and know my heart.”
This means:
“By searching me and knowing how great is the love of You borne in my heart,
You will know how great is my hatred toward Your enemies”; for, as stated, love
is the measure of hate.
וכפי ערך גודל
האהבה לה׳, כך ערך גודל השנאה לסטרא אחרא והמיאוס ברע בתכלית
Hence, according to the
abundance of love towards G‑d, so is the extent of hatred toward
the spiritual sitra achra which nurtures the
physical pleasures, and the utter repugnance of the evil
of physical pleasures;
Since the sitra
achra is spiritual, and hence distant from physical man, the term “hatred”
is appropriate to it; with regard to the evil of physical pleasures, which are
closer to man, the term “repugnant” is applicable: the repugnance of having
something odious placed before one’s very eyes.
כי המיאוס הוא הפך
האהבה ממש כמו השנאה
for repugnance is as much
the exact opposite of love as is hatred.
In any event,
we have established that this tzaddik’s utter despisal of evil is
predicated on his loving G‑d to the greatest degree. He is therefore called a
“complete tzaddik,” since the quality by virtue of which he is termed
a tzaddik, i.e., his love of G‑d, is on the highest and most complete
level. He is also called a “tzaddik who knows only good” — he
possesses only good, having transformed all the evil within him to good.
Hence the
“incomplete tzaddik,” whose “love of delights” is imperfect, must also
be lacking in his hatred of evil. This, in turn, indicates that he retains some
vestige of evil, albeit unfelt. He is therefore called “a tzaddik who
knows evil.”
וצדיק שאינו גמור
הוא שאינו שונא הסטרא אחרא בתכלית השנאה
The “incomplete tzaddik”
is he who does not hate the sitra achra
— the spiritual kelipot — with an absolute hatred;
ולכן אינו מואס גם
כן ברע בתכלית
therefore he also does
not find evil — physical desires and pleasures — absolutely repugnant.
וכל שאין השנאה
והמיאוס בתכלית, על כרחך נשאר איזה שמ׳ אהבה ותענוג לשם
As long as his hatred and
abhorrence of evil are not absolute, perforce he must have retained some
vestige of love and pleasure towards it.
ולא הוסרו הבגדים
הצואים לגמרי מכל וכל
The “filthy garments” in
which the animal soul had been clothed, meaning (as explained above) the evil
inclination and the lusting after worldly pleasures, have [obviously] not
been completely shed from it.
ולכן לא נהפך לטוב
ממש, מאחר שיש לו איזה אחיזה עדיין בבגדים הצואים
Therefore, too,[ the
evil] of the animal soul has not actually been
converted to good, since it still has some hold on the “filthy garments,”
i.e., the desires for pleasure in which the animal soul had previously
“clothed” and expressed itself,
אלא שהוא בטל במיעוטו
וכלא חשיב
except that
this vestige of evil is imperceptible and cannot express itself in evil
desires, etc., because [the evil] is nullified [in the good] by reason
of its minuteness, and is accounted as nothing,
i.e., the overwhelming preponderance of good prevents the evil from being
sensed and from finding expression.
ולכן נקרא צדיק,
ורע כפוף ובטל לו
Indeed, he is therefore
called צדיק ורע לו, which means (not only “tzaddik who
knows (retains) evil,” but also) “a tzaddik whose evil is [his”;
i.e.,] subjugated and surrendered to him,“
to the good within him. Such a tzaddik is identified with the
good, since he is overwhelmingly good.
ועל כן גם אהבתו
לה׳ אינה בתכלית
Perforce, then, the
fact that he retains some evil indicates that his love of G‑d is also
not complete, for a complete love of G‑d would have converted
all the evil within him to good.
ולכן נקרא צדיק
שאינו גמור
He is therefore called an
“incomplete tzaddik.”
For, as explained
above, the terms “complete” and “incomplete” denote the tzaddik’s
level of love for G‑d, and the terms “who knows only good” and “who knows evil”
denote the degree of his eradication and transformation of evil.
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FOOTNOTES |
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Devarim 21:21. |
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See ch. 1, note 6. |
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The Rebbe notes the apparent contradiction
between the two statements made here concerning the tzaddik’s evil nature: on
the one hand we are told that the evil is completely driven out and
eradicated, and on the other hand it is stated that it is converted to good.
The Rebbe remarks: There are actually two aspects to the “evil
nature”: the power of the animal soul, and its “filthy garments,” the evil
desires into which the animal soul’s energy has been channeled. These
“garments” cannot be elevated or converted; they must be removed and
eradicated. The energy of the animal soul and its tendency to find evil
outlets for its energy can then be converted to good by “clothing it in clean
garments,” i.e., channeling this energy into holy outlets. If the energy has
not yet been transformed into good, clearly some of the “filthy garments”
must have remained. |
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Paraphrase of Tehillim 139:22-23. |
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By Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812),
founder of Chabad Chassidism (Free Translation) More articles... | Elucidated by Rabbi Yosef Wineberg. Translated
from Yiddish by Rabbi Levy Wineberg and Rabbi Sholom B. Wineberg. Edited by
Uri Kaploun. Published and Copyright by Kehot Publication Society ©
Copyright Chabad.org · 770 Eastern Parkway Suite 405 ·
Brooklyn, NY 11213 |
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