Likkutei Amarim Chapter 12 · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 Today we’re going to learn chapter 12, one of the wonderful chapters. The chapter itself is simply wonderful, simply beautiful. It’s a pleasure to learn. And I don’t quite know why, but for some reason one of the most debated questions in Chabad is: What is a beinoni? People argue about it this way and that, when really the subject isn’t so... It is deep, but it isn’t so... You learn this chapter, and it simply says right here what a beinoni is. There’s no need for so much debate. So we’ll learn chapter 12. The Tzemach Tzedek already gave chapter 12 its heading: “The Beinoni.” None of you asked the obvious question. And it’s not just that none of you asked it; I haven’t seen this question written anywhere. I’ve never heard it, but I’m sure it’s hovering in everyone’s mind, even if no one makes a big issue of it. The Tanya is called the Book of Beinonim. Why is it called that? It guides us, the beinonim, in how to serve Hashem. Right? So how should the book have begun? Chapter 1 should have been: What is a beinoni, and what is his avodah? What are eleven long, interesting, profound chapters doing in the Book of Beinonim? Especially chapters about the G-dly soul and the animal soul, their faculties and their garments. What are they doing there?

01:34 Speaker 2 To understand the preliminary definitions.

01:36 Speaker 1 Why? Can’t you understand what a beinoni is without them?

01:40 Speaker 2 Because if we see that a beinoni—

01:41 Speaker 10 His true essence.

01:42 Speaker 2 If we... Yes, to really understand what a beinoni is.

01:45 Speaker 1 Why?

01:48 Speaker 2 Because if you say a beinoni is someone who has both good and evil and always overcomes the evil, well, he’s still a kind of... So what’s the difference between that and calling someone a beinoni in a borrowed sense?

01:57 Speaker 10 Even when you say he doesn’t sin, he sounds like a tzaddik.

02:00 Speaker 2 As though “beinoni” were a borrowed name. So the point is to say: Wait, let’s move beyond that borrowed usage and see what this means in practice.

02:08 Speaker 1 What you’re saying is correct. It’s very true. One moment, this is bothering me.

02:25 Speaker 10 Don’t disconnect.

02:26 Speaker 1 I didn’t get a chance to disconnect.

02:26 Speaker 10 An honored guest.

02:26 Speaker 1 I didn’t get a chance to disconnect. It disconnected on its own.

02:32 Speaker 10 Hello?

02:33 Speaker 1 Once we see, right in the opening lines, what a beinoni is, we’ll understand that without understanding the difference between a tzaddik and a rasha, we couldn’t understand what a beinoni is. You can’t understand what a beinoni is without understanding what a tzaddik is and what a rasha is. Now, to understand what a tzaddik and a rasha are—how did we explain what a tzaddik is? We explained that there is a G-dly soul and an animal soul, that the G-dly soul has inner faculties and garments, and that the animal soul also has inner faculties and garments. Right? So what is a tzaddik? Someone whose inner faculties and garments are both righteous and holy. Right? Correct? What is a rasha, as we learned in the previous chapter? Someone whose outer faculties, the garments, and inner faculties are both wicked. So what’s left to say now about a beinoni? He’s half and half. What is a beinoni? Someone who is half and half. What does that mean? His inner faculties are like those of a rasha, and his outer faculties are like those of a tzaddik.

03:47 Speaker 10 What does that mean?

03:49 Speaker 1 What does it mean? That’s what this chapter will explain.

03:52 Speaker 10 I don’t get what that means.

03:54 Speaker 1 A beinoni is someone who, in terms of his inner faculties, is like a rasha. Not just like one—he is a rasha. He has a yetzer hara and an animal soul, and he experiences desires just like a rasha. There’s no difference. There is a difference.

04:10 Speaker 10 Except that he manages to...

04:11 Speaker 1 We’ll see the difference. In terms of his outer faculties, his garments—thought, speech, and action—he’s like a tzaddik. He never sins. So he’s a beinoni. Where would you place him? You can’t put him in either category.

04:31 Speaker 10 It really is living like that, thank G-d.

04:34 Speaker 1 What? Yochai Shimon[?]... [unclear].

04:39 Speaker 10 Wow. Come with him.

04:40 Speaker 1 In honor of...

04:43 Speaker 10 You did that just a moment ago.

04:44 Speaker 1 What else?

04:46 Speaker 10 I did a few more. That’s just from one.

05:00 Speaker 1 Good, then we arrived in time. We’re still in the introduction; we haven’t read even one word of the text yet. And the last thing I wanted to say by way of introduction, after everything we’ve explained, is this: What’s the conclusion? You can’t call a beinoni a tzaddik because his thought, speech, and action, his garments, are like those of a... Sorry. You can’t call him a tzaddik because his inner faculties, his mind and emotions, are like those of a rasha. So you can’t call him a tzaddik. You can’t call him a rasha because his thought, speech, and action, his outer faculties, are like those of a tzaddik. So you can’t call him a tzaddik. You can’t call him a... What will you call him? Call him a beinoni. All right, that’s the general content of chapter 12. It will explain how and why, and so on. Chapter 12. Let’s read the text: “And the beinoni”—in large letters. We’ve finally reached the heart of the matter, the culmination of all twelve chap—twelve chapters. “And the beinoni is one in whom the evil never gains enough power to conquer the small city, to clothe itself in his body and cause him to sin.” He has a yetzer hara, but it cannot take over his body and cause him to sin. Sin—what does the Torah command us about? The Torah gives us all its mitzvos, both positive and negative. There’s no commandment that can make a person understand. You can teach him until he understands. Right? You can’t command him to love. You can command him to contemplate things that arouse love, until love awakens. Right. What can you command a person to do? An action: something in deed, speech, or thought. Those can be commanded. So a beinoni is someone in whom evil exists and operates, but it cannot cause him to sin. In action, speech, and thought, he does not sin. That is, “the three garments of the animal soul, which are thought,

07:18 Speaker 1 speech, and action that come from kelipah”—which we discussed at length in chapters 6, 7, and 8—“do not overpower the G-dly soul within him so as to clothe themselves in the body, in the brain and mouth and the other 248 limbs, causing them to sin and defiling them, G-d forbid.” So the animal soul cannot clothe itself in the body and cause it to sin. What happens in his garments? What does occupy his thought, speech, and action? “Only the three garments of the G-dly soul clothe themselves in the body.” Thought, speech, and action—which soul is present in the beinoni’s garments? Only the G-dly soul. The animal soul, the yetzer hara, has no foothold in the person’s actions or speech. He will never speak—

08:15 Speaker 11 His brother-in-law.

08:16 Speaker 1 No. We’ll soon see why not. We said this in the introduction before we began; we’ll see it in the text too. In speech, he will never stumble into forbidden speech—certainly not speech of idol worship, nor talk involving mockery, gossip, or anything of the sort. And he will never stumble in thought either. Never will a forbidden thought pass through—he will never dwell on something the Torah forbids him to think about. The Torah says: “Do not think evil of your brother in your heart.” He will never dwell on it. He won’t think bad things about his friend, about another Jew, even in his own mind. That is a beinoni. In action, in speech, and even in thought, only the G-dly soul governs him. The animal soul has no foothold in his thought, speech, or action regarding the Torah’s 613 mitzvos. And because he is a person on this level, whose thought, speech, and action are always governed only by holiness, with no foothold for evil there, he is someone who has never committed a sin in his life and never will. So does that mean that if someone committed a sin even once in his life, he can never be a beinoni?

09:58 Speaker 11 Even if he... What is his situation now?

10:01 Speaker 1 What is Rabbi Yechezkel saying? If a beinoni is someone who has never committed a sin in his life, what does that sound like? That if he sinned once, all is lost for him. That’s not what it means. Certainly not. Good question. Rather, what happened? He did teshuvah. He may have committed many sins. But if he did teshuvah, and at this very moment committing a sin is unthinkable to him, simply out of the question, he wonders about himself: How could I have committed a sin? Just thinking about it makes him tremble and shudder. He did genuine teshuvah. It truly pains him. Now it’s unthinkable to him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has forgiven him, so he has no sins in his past. He has never committed a sin in his life. He did teshuvah—a person who does genuine teshuvah has no past sins. They’re erased. They don’t exist.

10:56 Speaker 11 That’s a beinoni?

10:57 Speaker 1 Yes.

10:58 Speaker 11 Someone who committed a sin and...

11:00 Speaker 1 It doesn’t have to be that he—he may have committed a sin. But anyone who has done genuine teshuvah—genuine teshuvah means that he truly regrets it, that it truly hurts him. What does it mean that it truly hurts him? There’s “it hurts him,” and then there’s “it hurts me.” Yes, it hurts me very much. Truly—meaning he can’t bear it, because he can’t bear the thought that I committed a sin. It’s genuinely unthinkable to him. If it’s genuinely unthinkable to him, if it truly hurts him, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu has truly forgiven him—truly forgiven him—then it’s erased. It no longer exists. It doesn’t exist, so he didn’t commit a sin. He didn’t commit a sin, so he’s a beinoni.

11:35 Speaker 11 So [unclear] was a beinoni?

11:40 Speaker 1 Hmm? That’s—that’s chapter 13. We’ll get to it next week, with Hashem’s help.

11:49 Speaker 11 No, because the Tanya class—the Tanya class was earlier.

11:53 Speaker 12 So what did you think?

11:54 Speaker 11 The second session.

11:54 Speaker 12 No, because that’s how it was just now—I came to Igeres Hakodesh. What happened?

11:57 Speaker 11 We almost reached the end, right? Up to, uh...

12:01 Speaker 1 We stopped ten letters before the end.

12:03 Speaker 12 Yes.

12:03 Speaker 11 So that’s it.

12:04 Speaker 12 Oh, the class was at your place?

12:06 Speaker 11 No, here.

12:07 Speaker 12 [Unclear] was at our place. You’re saying you’ve already been learning this.

12:16 Speaker 11 No, but—

12:18 Speaker 1 This is where he continues. A beinoni isn’t only someone who has never committed a sin. He’s also someone who will never commit a sin. What does “will never commit a sin” mean? How can a person know now that he... The Rambam writes: “Until the Knower of secrets testifies about him”—what is a genuine baal teshuvah?—“that he will never return to that sin.” The Rambam writes that in the Mishneh Torah. What does it mean? How can you know now? What, is his free choice taken away from him? Of course not. Right now he’s in a state where, “I should commit a sin? How could I...” It can’t be; there’s no such possibility. Right? A beinoni is someone who, at this moment, in his present spiritual state, his state of mind, his current inner disposition, finds it unthinkable to commit a sin—in action, in speech, or in thought. “I’m connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; I’m a Jew. Why on earth would I commit sins?” When a person is in that state, right now, at this moment, he’s a beinoni. The beinoni of Tanya. Even if it’s only for one hour, or one moment, in his entire life. So immediately people ask what you asked. Excuse me, that’s a beinoni? That sounds like a tzaddik. It doesn’t sound like a beinoni. Right? I say no. Why isn’t he called a tzaddik? “But the essence and core...”

13:51 Speaker 11 That came out as though it didn’t—

13:53 Speaker 1 And here, right away, the Alter Rebbe doesn’t leave us—he raises a question and answers it. What was that saying? “Kill a Turk and take a rest.” Tap, tap, tap. He keeps moving forward, moving forward, moving forward. “The essence and core of the G-dly soul, which are its ten faculties, do not have sole dominion and rule over the small city.” Let’s remind ourselves for a moment what we call the small city.

14:26 Speaker 11 The body.

14:26 Speaker 1 The body. Right? We called the body the small city. That was in chapter 9, right? So there’s the body. There are two kings fighting over the body, over the small city. What does it mean that “they do not have sole dominion and rule over the small city”? It means there are times when the essence and core of the G-dly soul do have dominion and rule, but there are times when they don’t. Right? What does “not sole” mean? There are times when the G-dly soul is king, and times when it isn’t. That’s what it says, right? When does it rule, and when doesn’t it? When is the G-dly soul in control, the king over the body? And by “the body” we mean thought, speech, and action. So a beinoni is someone for whom there are times when the G-dly soul—as we’ve seen up to now—is king over thought, speech, and action. There are other times too. When does it rule, and when not? “For at certain times the G-dly soul is king, such as at the time of reciting Shema and prayer.” Why specifically then?

15:42 Speaker 11 Because he’s occupied with holy things...

15:46 Speaker 1 That’s one reason, but it isn’t what the Alter Rebbe begins with. The time of reciting Shema and prayer—and we’re speaking mainly about Shacharis—is a time of expanded divine consciousness Above. It’s a time when, Above in the higher worlds, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed; the Infinite Light is revealed in the worlds, and a special revelation of G-dliness shines there at that time in the morning. He doesn’t explain it here; it’s explained elsewhere in Chassidus. But that’s the point. So because Above it’s a time of expanded divine consciousness, of a revelation of G-dliness—and we learned in chapter 2 of Tanya that our soul reflects the ten supernal sefiros—down here too, for us, that same time, that morning hour, is an opportune time for every person. Then he connects—because Above... Right now there’s a revelation of G-dliness. There’s a revelation down here. If a person contemplates G-dliness at that time, at that opportune hour, he’ll feel it then. If he contemplates the same thing at another time of day, it will be harder. “For then, during prayer, at the time of reciting Shema, he connects his Chochmah, Binah, and Daas to Hashem, to contemplate deeply the greatness of the blessed Infinite One and awaken love like flames of fire in the right chamber of his heart.” We’ll see at great length later how to awaken that. “To cleave to Him by fulfilling the Torah and its mitzvos out of love.” So this is the opportune time when the G-dly soul rules the body. In simpler words, when a Jew uses the time of Shema and prayer and truly contemplates—meaning deeply, not just racing through it, but deeply contemplating the meaning of the words of prayer and the greatness of the Infinite One—because he’s doing it at an opportune time, the G-dly soul reigns within him then. Picture a chossid: he learns a little Chassidus before davening, goes to the mikveh, you know, thinks during davening.

18:22 Speaker 1 Now love of Hashem awakens within him. Why? Because he’s contemplating at the right time and has made the proper preparations. If someone were to come over to him now, in the middle of davening, during a part when speaking is permitted, and start talking to him about some gossip, I don’t know what—how would he react? He’d say, “Are you serious? Why are you coming to me with this now?” Naturally, any of us, if someone came over—I’m not talking about thoughts arising within him. This is a person who is truly absorbed in his davening; thoughts like that won’t arise in the middle. But even if someone from outside comes and starts filling his head with politics, with Iran, with missiles, with I don’t know what—it doesn’t interest him now. He simply doesn’t want it. It’s not just that he won’t talk about it; he doesn’t want to think about it now. That’s not where he is. Right now his soul is shining within him. And we’re talking about this in the most straightforward sense, for each and every one of us. Contrary to this idea—I don’t know where it came from—that everyone says, even in Chabad, that a beinoni is some kind of unattainable ideal. A Jew who contemplates during davening and is absorbed in it at that opportune time is now in a state where sin is unthinkable to him. That’s where he is right now. That’s a beinoni. That’s exactly it.

20:00 Speaker 13 Well, what is a beinoni?

20:02 Speaker 1 I’ve already answered that question, and I’ll answer it again, but I don’t want to right now.

20:06 Speaker 13 What?

20:07 Speaker 1 I’ve answered it—I’ve answered it quite a few times already. We’ve talked about it. I don’t want to go into it now. We’ll get to it. Let’s finish following this line of thought without veering off into side issues. That question will fit at the end of chapter 23. And about this he says, “This is the matter explained in the Shema, which is from the Torah.” What does the Torah-prescribed Shema say? At the beginning we say, “Hear, O Israel”—that’s contemplation. What is “Hear, O Israel”? What does “hear” mean? “Hear” means understand. Understand what? “Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” Contemplate Hashem’s oneness, Hashem’s greatness. What do we say immediately afterward? “And you shall love Hashem your G-d.” Contemplate Hashem’s greatness so that you’ll come to love Him. That’s Shema. What about the blessings before and after it? They don’t speak about... They’re rabbinic, not from the Torah. Why do we need them? They’re preparation for fulfilling Shema, as explained elsewhere. Why are they preparation? Just an interesting point: generally, for all the mitzvos in the Torah—you have to say a blessing for every mitzvah. For every positive mitzvah, you have to say a blessing before performing it, right? They all have a formula. What blessing do we say over Shabbos candles? “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Shabbos light.” What blessing do we say over the sukkah? “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah.” The only mitzvah over which you say a blessing that doesn’t contain even a trace of mention of the mitzvah itself is Shema. We should have said, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to recite...” But it doesn’t say Shema.

22:09 Speaker 13 Remember why the Jewish people—

22:10 Speaker 1 The blessing doesn’t say, “Who commanded us to recite Shema.” It doesn’t say that. Two blessings for one mitzvah, and neither of them says anything about it—nothing directly connected to it at all. How—these blessings were blessings for Shema, one before it and one after it, in the morning and in the evening, with different blessings each time. What is this? That’s what he says here. The blessings before and after Shema are rabbinic enactments, a preparation for fulfilling the mitzvah of Shema. What do the blessings of Shema talk about? The first blessing talks about the service of the angels, how the angels praise Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the holy ones, the different kinds of angels, and so on. This isn’t the place to go into it. And in the second blessing, we speak about how Hakadosh Boruch Hu loves us. Chassidus explains at length that these two blessings are a preparation for Shema. If you come and contemplate only Hashem’s greatness, you won’t feel love. Why? Your animal soul doesn’t know Hakadosh Boruch Hu; it doesn’t know who He is. Tell it that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is great, mighty and awe-inspiring. He has power, yes. Very nice, excellent. It doesn’t excite it, move it or grab its attention. Our animal soul wants food. That’s what it knows. It wants food, to be warm, to be cool, to be comfortable, to have nice clothes. That’s what it wants. Come and start talking to the animal soul about Hashem’s greatness—the G-dly soul can contemplate that, but the animal soul doesn’t care. We want to reach it. How do we reach it? First, in Pesukei Dezimra, we explain to it at length: Listen, there’s something beyond this world. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the One who sustains the world, who gives it life, who is the source of pleasures, and so on. All of Pesukei Dezimra goes into this at length: how the One who gives life and pleasure in the world

24:05 Speaker 1 is actually not... The world isn’t alive on its own. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives you everything. Now, you know, it starts to hear that there’s—well, maybe this is worth looking into. Then we come and tell it: These angels aren’t just anybody. They’re your source, animal soul. After all, why is it called “animal”? Because it has an animal’s nature, with all its desires. Why does it have an animal’s nature? Because its source is in the angels that are called animals. So we explain to it: Listen, this is your source. You’re like this, but do you know why you’re like this? Because your source is such-and-such. Now that already... It’s like telling someone, “Do you know what your grandfather was like? Don’t bring shame on the family name.” That touches him. Yes. It works along the same lines. After the animal soul understands that the true good is actually there—it has a hard time accepting it, but at least it understands it intellectually. It doesn’t feel it, but it understands it. You explain it, and it understands. A person doesn’t... Who is the animal soul? It’s my intellect. If I understand, then my animal soul has understood. When I think and understand something, who is doing the understanding here? Who is this “I”? “I” is what we spoke about in chapter 1. “I” is chapter 1. “I” is the animal soul. “I” am not the G-dly soul; I don’t feel my G-dly soul. I certainly feel the animal soul. I don’t know the G-dly soul at all. When my intellect, which can understand chemistry, mathematics, physics, English, history, whatever—when it suddenly understands that the true good is G-dliness, then the animal soul understands. I understood; the animal soul understood. After I’ve understood that the true good is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and they tell me, “Listen,

25:48 Speaker 1 your own source is in the angels.” They say, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu left everyone else, chose you, and loves only you.” Now—oh, now, now we come to Shema and contemplate Hashem’s greatness. Now there’s a chance it will take hold. So what he’s saying is that the blessings of Shema really aren’t blessings over the mitzvah—“Who sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us concerning Shema.” Rather, they really are a preparation for fulfilling the mitzvah of Shema, as he says elsewhere, on line ten. And then, when there is also an influence from above, mochin degadlus are revealed, and the person himself delves into davening, throws himself into “Come into the ark”—throws himself into the words of davening and Torah, primarily davening—then, at that time, the evil in the left chamber is subdued and nullified before the good that spreads through the right chamber from the Chabad faculties in the brain, which are bound up with the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof. Don’t you have a question?

27:03 Speaker 14 Maybe we should go back to the end of chapter 9.

27:05 Speaker 1 Hm? What?

27:09 Speaker 14 At the end of chapter 9.

27:15 Speaker 1 No, this is actually a question from chapter 9. In chapter 9 it says that when a person contemplates until... How can he transform it—transform the soul, the... the evil in the left chamber? How can he transform it? He contemplates G-dliness until the G-dly soul in the right chamber is awakened. Remember we talked about that?

27:41 Speaker 14 Yes.

27:42 Speaker 1 The Rebbe spoke about it. Then, after he contemplates, eventually the good of the G-dly soul there on the right side overflows. It becomes so full that it spills over to the left side, filling it through and through with love, until it’s full to overflowing. Now it’s been transformed. The left chamber, too, is already full of love. That’s what it says there. Right? In other words, the way the mind influences the left side is through the right side. That’s what it says there. Here it says something else.

28:13 Speaker 14 It’s subdued before it.

28:14 Speaker 1 Here it says there’s evil in the left chamber, and what is it subdued before? It’s nullified. It’s nullified before the good, which spreads through the right chamber from the Chabad faculties in the brain, which are bound up with the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof. But what is the evil subdued before? It’s subdued before the intellect. It isn’t subdued before the left side. Do you understand what I’m asking? In chapter 9 it says that for the evil to be transformed, the good on the right side has to influence the evil that... Here it says something else. Look closely at the words. Here it says that the good in the... the evil in the left chamber is subdued before the intellect.

28:59 Speaker 14 The left one.

29:00 Speaker 1 Right, those same intellectual faculties also influence the right chamber, but what is the evil subdued before? It’s subdued before the intellect, not before the lef—right chamber. So how does that fit with what we learned there two chapters ago? Three chapters ago? The Rebbe gives a wonderful explanation of this. They’re not the same thing. There it’s about is’hapcha, transformation; here it’s about iskafya, subduing. There it’s about a tzaddik; here it’s about a beinoni. For the evil in the left chamber to turn into good, the right side has to take over the left side.

29:37 Speaker 14 Someone...

29:40 Speaker 1 But a beinoni doesn’t have the power to do that. A beinoni is someone who, at his level, still can’t arouse such a love that it spills over and washes away everything there. He can’t; it’s beyond his power. He hasn’t reached that level yet. What can he do? He can arouse enough love for the left side to be subdued. It won’t be nullified, but it will be subdued before the intellect. So when will it be subdued? As long as the person is contemplating and there is mochin degadlus, it’s subdued. Afterward, afterward it’s already less subdued.

30:20 Speaker 14 Is that a kind of difference between a judge and an adviser? As in the mind and the heart, something that comes to him from above.

30:27 Speaker 1 I’m not familiar enough with that sicha, so I can’t answer you right now. I don’t know; I’d have to think about it. It could be, I don’t know. Possibly. You’re talking about the sicha from 5751.

30:39 Speaker 14 Yes. No, it just occurred to me, like someone who approaches you kindly, and then, in the heart, it’s sort of [unclear].

30:48 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes.

30:49 Speaker 14 It’s not like...

30:49 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Exactly the same idea. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Right. Exactly.

30:54 Speaker 14 You’re making it difficult for me.

31:02 Speaker 1 Where were we? And then the evil in the left side is subdued, nullified. Okay, after the period on line twelve, at the end of line twelve. But what happens after davening? When the heightened awareness departs—its time is up, and he stops; he’s finished davening—the evil in the left chamber of the heart awakens again. After all, it wasn’t nullified. It wasn’t transformed. It was subdued while the G-dly soul was in control, as we discussed earlier: during davening, when that heightened awareness is revealed. But afterward, the evil awakens again. What does “awakens again” mean? It desires things. What does it desire? The desires and pleasures of this world, just as before, almost as though the person hadn’t davened. So if those desires return, we have the opposite question: Why doesn’t he sin? We understood why the beinoni doesn’t sin during davening. Why does the G-dly soul rule the “small city” then? Because he has that heightened awareness; he meditates. I understand. But after davening, the evil within him hasn’t been nullified. If it hasn’t been nullified, it still has desires no less intense than those of a rasha—the very same desires. It desires this world and its pleasures, including things that are forbidden. So what distinguishes him from a rasha now? Why does the rasha stumble and he doesn’t? During davening, fine—but what about now? What’s the difference now? The Alter Rebbe says: Only because the evil inclination does not have sole authority to rule and govern the city. Why doesn’t it have sole authority? Where does the battle take place? We have the evil inclination—where is it? In the heart. It desires the things of this world, right? And we have the good inclination, whose essential place is in the mind, in the head. So where does the battle between them take place? Where do they meet? Let me ask the question

33:43 Speaker 1 differently. When a person desires something, he feels drawn to something in this world. He wants to eat something forbidden, or something he shouldn’t eat, or he wants to eat for the sake of Heaven—or it’s some other desire. Something appeals to him. Right?

34:03 Speaker 15 In the mind. As for speech, each one like that—

34:07 Speaker 1 The battle is in the mind. Where does the deliberation happen? There’s no deliberation in the heart. No such thing. A person’s deliberation doesn’t happen in the heart. What is a battle? It’s “yes, no, yes, no.” That happens only in thought. There’s no battle anywhere else. Right? Who is in the beinoni’s mind now, after davening? The G-dly soul. It was just there, and it’s certainly still there. He has just finished davening. He meditated; he thought. The impression of davening remains with him. So where do the foreign thoughts come from—the thoughts about the desires of this world? From the heart that desires. To get what it desires, the heart needs to think about how to get it, right? So he starts thinking about it. But there’s someone else there too. That’s where the battle begins. This is what it means that the evil inclination doesn’t have sole authority to rule. So it cannot bring its desire from potential into action. The heart can desire something, and a thought of that desire can rise from the heart to the mind. But it cannot put the thought into action. What does that mean? To express it through the body’s faculties—in action, speech, or actual thought. It can’t do that. What’s the difference between thought and actual thought? If the thought can rise into his mind, what does it mean that he can’t actually think about it? What’s the difference between thinking and actually thinking?

35:56 Speaker 15 Perhaps it’s a matter of choice.

35:58 Speaker 1 Hmm?

35:59 Speaker 15 Choice.

35:59 Speaker 1 Choice. He can’t prevent a thought from rising into his mind, because he has a heart, and the heart gives rise to thoughts. That’s not up to him. But once a thought has arisen, does he enjoy it and find it appealing, and continue dwelling on it? Or is he immediately shaken by the very fact that such a thought occurred to him, and throws it out completely?

36:30 Speaker 16 Being shaken is also an emotion.

36:31 Speaker 1 Hmm?

36:33 Speaker 16 Being shaken is also an emotion.

36:36 Speaker 17 Being shaken is also an emotion.

36:37 Speaker 1 True. He’s shaken in his mind: “How could such a thing occur to me?” That’s the battle; that’s the beinoni. He can’t prevent thoughts from arising. He has a heart, and his heart desires things just like the rasha’s. But because the evil inclination does not have sole authority to rule, there are two kings in his mind, constantly at war. Thoughts come from one side, while the other wants to continue what was happening during davening. They fight. And because the good inclination, the G-dly soul, is in the mind, the evil inclination can only cause a thought to reach the mind. It cannot cause him to go on dwelling on that thought. And all the more so, it’s out of the question for him to speak about it or act on it. “It cannot bring its desire from potential into action.” Who cannot? The evil inclination cannot bring its desire from potential into action. It cannot express itself through the body’s faculties in action, speech, or actual thought. What does “actual thought” mean? Dwelling deeply on the pleasures of this world—no. A thought, a passing notion, can arise, but he won’t allow himself to dwell on it, to think about how to satisfy his heart’s desire. Why? This is the big question. Why? One side wants one thing, the other wants something else. What’s happening in the beinoni that means, as we said, he never stumbles—not even in thought? Why wouldn’t he stumble? If the evil inclination brings thoughts into his mind, and now their strength is equal—the G-dly soul and the animal soul are both in his mind, both thinking—what happens? What special quality does the beinoni have that keeps him from ever committing a sin? Why? If you said it was a matter of mind versus heart, fine, I’d understand: one

38:51 Speaker 1 is stronger. But the battle is in the mind. Why doesn’t the beinoni stumble? That’s precisely the question. Because the mind rules the heart, as it says in Raya Mehemna, Parshas Pinchas. The Zohar says that the mind rules the heart. What does it mean that the mind rules the heart?

39:18 Speaker 16 The mind can—

39:18 Speaker 1 When a person decides something, he can act contrary to what he wants. That’s a capacity that—

39:29 Speaker 16 Why would a person decide to do something he doesn’t want to do?

39:31 Speaker 17 Because if he wants—

39:32 Speaker 1 His heart wants one thing, but he understands that he needs to do something else. This is a capacity that only—whether every person has it, or every Jew, I’m not sure. It’s a human capacity. The mind ruling the heart is something only a human being has. No other creature in the universe has it. There’s no such thing. What does it mean that it is innate? If the mind makes a decision, it has the power to control the heart’s desire. Why? Because that’s how Hakadosh Boruch Hu created us. Where does that come from? How do you know? That’s what it says in the Zohar. Knowing this alone gives a person tremendous strength. A person can’t tell himself, “This is how I was made. This is who I am.” There’s no such thing as “This is who I am.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu created you with the ability to decide and to control your heart. Every human being, by virtue of being human—that is what it means to be human. How do we know? That’s what it says in the Zohar. It is innate, part of the nature with which a person was created. Every person... That’s why every person can be a beinoni: because every person, by their very nature, can use the will in their mind to restrain themselves and master the desires in their heart, so as not to fulfill the wishes of their heart in action, speech, or thought. They can’t control the heart so that it won’t want something, but they can control it so that it won’t

41:07 Speaker 3 come to—

41:08 Speaker 1 so that it won’t find expression in practice—in action, speech, or even thought. It’s an extraordinary thing when you think about it.

41:18 Speaker 3 People need to hear this.

41:19 Speaker 1 Huh?

41:20 Speaker 3 Children need to hear this.

41:21 Speaker 1 It’s an extraordinary thing when you think about it.

41:23 Speaker 3 Children need to say it.

41:25 Speaker 1 When a person has kabbolas ol. What does kabbolas ol mean? Kabbolas ol means: I’ve decided. I don’t want it this way. I don’t understand why it has to be this way. I understand that it’s good; I don’t understand why it’s good. I’ve simply decided that this is how it has to be. That alone is enough for a person to be, how do you say it, like a complete tzaddik in the sense that he won’t commit sins. There’s [unclear] there, of course. The Rebbe says more than that: it’s enough not only to keep him from fulfilling the desires of his heart. The will in the mind is so strong that a person can even turn his attention completely away from the desires of his heart, toward their exact opposite. Right now he desires something; through the will in his mind alone, he can... Let me just give an example. It happens often, very often. [Unclear.] A person falls into despair. Despair, as we learned in chapter 1 of Tanya, comes from one of the four evil elements of the animal soul. Things are hard for him; he can’t go on. Even when a person is in the deepest depths, down among the three kelipos, at that very moment he can decide that he now wants to be happy, and he will be happy. That’s what it says here.

42:55 Speaker 3 One minute.

42:58 Speaker 1 Right, but that’s the point. But it’s a matter of kabbolas ol alone. Every person can, through the will in his mind, not only restrain himself so that he doesn’t actually do it, but turn his attention completely to the exact opposite. He says something more: not only can he turn his attention to the exact opposite, but it’s easier, particularly when turning toward holiness. What does that mean? Granted, through the will in his mind he can shift his attention from one side to the other. Fine, it’s written here. I can sense that too. But why should it be easier for a person to turn his attention from the opposite side toward holiness than the other way around? Why? What does our experience tell us? What? What is easier for me to think about—things opposed to holiness, things that aren’t holy, or things that are holy? Which is harder to think about? On the face of it, it’s harder to think about the side of holiness. That’s how we feel. The Alter Rebbe says: No. It’s easier for a person to turn his heart toward the side of holiness. Why? Where does that come from? This is already something new, something we haven’t said until now. Where does it come from? So he says—ah, he brings a proof for it. As it is written—and this really is something that needs proof from a verse, because it isn’t something we feel. And there is a verse. What does the verse say? “And I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, as light has an advantage over darkness.” Well, that’s obvious. Do we really need a comparison to understand it? Is something unclear here? Wisdom has an advantage over folly? Why do we need a comparison for that, to the advantage of light over darkness? What, isn’t it obvious that wisdom is better than folly? Do we need a comparison for that? Is something unclear here? And what does the comparison to light’s advantage over darkness mean? What—what—what is he trying to say here? Why

45:25 Speaker 1 do we need a comparison for such a thing? Does anyone think folly has an advantage over wisdom?

45:32 Speaker 4 Maybe “comes from” means something.

45:33 Speaker 1 Huh?

45:33 Speaker 4 “Comes from”—as in, the advantage of wisdom comes from intellect, something like that.

45:37 Speaker 1 No, no, no.

45:38 Speaker 4 Like the advantage of light over darkness.

45:39 Speaker 1 No, no, no.

45:40 Speaker 5 As a little physical light drives away a lot of darkness, so a little wisdom drives away a lot of folly.

45:46 Speaker 1 Good. That’s exactly what he says in the rest of the sentence, which I deliberately didn’t read. “Meaning...” Why does he need to explain it? Because otherwise, we really wouldn’t understand why he chose this comparison. Just as light has superiority and dominion over darkness. What are that superiority and dominion? That a little physical light drives away a great deal of darkness. I might think that since holiness is something small and weak within me, it would be very hard to drive away all the sitra achra, everything I feel, all those feelings. And what does King Shlomo say? No. Light and wisdom are light, while the sitra achra, the kelipos, and the desires of this world are darkness. Light has a quality: even when there is a lot of darkness—yes, you’re all darkness. We know you; we know what you’re like. It’s no revelation to me, the Alter Rebbe says, that you’re all darkness. But know this: even though you’re all darkness, and that’s true, when you contemplate even a little light, that’s enough to drive away all your darkness. That’s the comparison. “It is driven away by itself and—ah—automatically. So too, the great folly of the kelipah and sitra achra in the left chamber is automatically driven away, as our Sages said, ‘Unless a spirit of folly enters him,’ etc.” Why—why—why does the Alter Rebbe need that addition in parentheses? All right, you’re already tired, so perhaps we’ll skip that. “Because of the wisdom of the G-dly soul in the mind, whose will is to rule alone over the city and to clothe itself in its three aforementioned garments throughout the entire body, as explained above—namely, thought, speech, and action in the 613 mitzvos of the Torah, as explained above.” So what question arises now? Earlier we asked why he isn’t called a rasha. Now we ask: Wait, then why isn’t he called a tzaddik? If he’s someone who not only during davening, but even throughout the entire day, doesn’t commit sins—why isn’t he called a tzaddik?

48:01 Speaker 1 Now we need to explain the other side. The Alter Rebbe says: “Nevertheless, he is not called a tzaddik at all, not even to a small degree or in part.” Why? “Because this advantage that the light of the G-dly soul has over the darkness and folly of the aforementioned kelipah”—the G-dly soul’s advantage, then, is only—“is only in the soul’s three garments, not in its essence and substance over the essence and substance of the kelipah. For the essence and substance of the animal soul, which comes from the kelipah in the left chamber, has not been displaced from its place at all in the beinoni after davening.” During davening, it certainly is displaced. We discussed that at the beginning of the chapter. During davening, the beinoni is like a tzaddik. And we’ll go into that at length in the next chapter. “For after davening, the fiery flames of love for Hashem are not revealed in his heart, in its right chamber.” What, then, is happening with the beinoni throughout the day? “The inside of the right chamber is lined with hidden love.” What did we say “lined” means? Like a floor. So yes, it forms a continuous lining, with no gaps, but it’s only on the floor, only down below, and only in the right chamber. How will it get from there? It doesn’t affect the left side. “Hidden love, which is the natural love of the G-dly soul.” Since this love is natural—it’s the nature of the G-dly soul—it’s there all the time. But where is it? Only in the right chamber, and only on the floor. It isn’t felt, it doesn’t act, it isn’t active, as will be explained later. So during the day, since his natural hidden love isn’t active, revealed, or felt, “the folly of the evil fool can be revealed in his heart, in the left chamber, causing him to desire all the physical matters of this world, whether permitted”—and a beinoni can even have a desire for something forbidden, G-d forbid—“as though he had not davened at all.” Well then, if he can desire it, why—now the ping-pong goes back the other way—why

50:11 Speaker 1 don’t you call him a rasha? “But when it comes to something forbidden, it does not occur to him to actually commit the prohibition, G-d forbid.” He can desire it, but the moment the thought comes to him, he recoils from it and rejects it. Sinful thoughts, which are harder than the sin itself, can have an effect. Are you familiar with such a situation? Everyone can recall it for themselves. You can remember a time when a sinful thought occurred to you and you shuddered: How could I think such a thing? That happens to everyone. That’s a beinoni. That’s the nature of a beinoni. I’m sure it’s happened to everyone.

50:53 Speaker 6 Not the beinoni of Tanya.

50:55 Speaker 1 I’m—I mean the beinoni of Tanya. That’s what we’re talking about. That’s precisely the nature of the beinoni: someone who, when thoughts of sin occur to him—even of a sin, G-d forbid, depending on what level of beinoni he is; we’ll see more about that in the next chapter too—

51:08 Speaker 6 rejects the thought.

51:09 Speaker 1 But, but he recoils from it. He can’t accept it. Why can’t he accept it? Why not? Why can’t he accept it? It feels good, it’s pleasant, he’s drawn to it. So why not? Why does it make him recoil? For one reason only: kabbolas ol. He decided that it isn’t right for him. That’s all. How does he manage it? How does he manage it? Um, line fourteen: “Sinful thoughts, which are harder than the sin itself, can have an effect, entering his mind and disturbing him in his Torah study and avodah. And as our Sages said: There are three sins from which a person is not spared each day”—sinful thoughts. A thought can arise. He doesn’t control that.

51:59 Speaker 6 So what do you think? How, then?

52:02 Speaker 1 Wait.

52:03 Speaker 6 Mm.

52:05 Speaker 1 How can he really control it? Only for this... Now what—what—what are we talking about? After davening. The natural love isn’t active. Right? Contemplation? He isn’t contemplating. How? How? How does he manage it, then?

52:27 Speaker 6 The impression that remains—

52:28 Speaker 1 “Only for this does the impression in the mind help.” What is an impression in the mind? An impression is a trace. What does a trace mean? A trace in the mind. He has nothing in his heart, right? Nothing is revealed there. What is a trace in the mind?

52:52 Speaker 6 That he’s aware of what he learned earlier, no? That something remained with him.

52:57 Speaker 1 This impression is, first of all, a feeling, a sense. Yes, a feeling. What kind of feeling are we talking about? When does this feeling of holiness arise in the mind? During the day—

53:07 Speaker 6 When he studied, when he was engaged in it—

53:08 Speaker 7 Apart from davening.

53:09 Speaker 1 When... it works like this. It works like this. An impression is something like this: there’s such a thing as a feeling in the mind. He feels it in his mind, and it registers with him. What registers with him? During davening, there’s no question what he feels: he feels G-dliness. After davening, he feels this world. But if an opportunity to commit a transgression comes his way, something in the background won’t let him go ahead with it. He feels that it isn’t right. A person who didn’t daven properly, who didn’t contemplate during davening, who didn’t awaken a love of Hashem during davening—if later in the day he comes across an opportunity to commit a transgression, like something else that’s very common among us, gossip or lashon hara, he won’t feel that there’s a problem. He simply won’t feel it. People will talk to him, and it will seem natural; he lives in this world. If he davened properly, he’ll feel that something here isn’t right. Something will bother him, something won’t let him go ahead, something will stop him.

54:19 Speaker 6 Wow.

54:21 Speaker 1 Okay, is that clear? This is called an impression in the mind. What creates this impression? It comes from davening with contemplation. That’s what produces it, and that’s why you need to daven every day. It won’t help that you davened properly yesterday. Once a person sleeps, everything is erased. Every morning, while the mind is at its fullest, he needs to prepare, contemplate deeply, awaken his love of Hashem, and think until G-dliness becomes real to him. And when it becomes real to him during davening, then afterward, throughout the day, even when he isn’t davening, he’ll feel that something won’t—

55:00 Speaker 6 And how can you contemplate the same thing every day and reach the same...?

55:04 Speaker 7 Well...

55:04 Speaker 6 It’s a matter of energy.

55:07 Speaker 1 We’re talking about how to be a beinoni. On that day, that very day, a person decides in the morning—he gets up, wakes up with Modeh Ani. Even before he says Modeh Ani, the first thing he thinks is that he is standing before... It says in Shulchan Aruch, in Shulchan Aruch—I think it’s the first halacha—to contemplate before Whom he stands, before Whom he lies, even before he opens his eyes. When he says Modeh Ani, he should think about how Hakadosh Boruch Hu is watching right now, seeing whether I’ll stay lying down or roll around in bed, or put my feet down and get up. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is looking at me right now. That’s the first thought in the morning. That’s how he gets up. To get up like that, you have to go to sleep like that, right? And then, before davening, he thinks, thinks, contemplates. It says that the point isn’t to study Chassidus beforehand; it’s to contemplate, to think about the meaning. A minute, two minutes, half a minute, thirty seconds. Think about the greatness of Hashem. Without that, there’s no davening. There isn’t. It won’t work. In Pesukei Dezimra, look at the meaning of the words. Even great chassidim said—I saw it written not long ago—that they admitted they had never managed to concentrate on all the words of davening from beginning to end. They never managed it in their lives. I heard this from Reb Mendel and several other great chassidim.

56:34 Speaker 8 Sometimes I asked about this—

56:35 Speaker 1 Rabbi Yitzchak Demarkmi[?] couldn’t.

56:38 Speaker 8 What?

56:38 Speaker 9 If davening were shorter, maybe then...

56:41 Speaker 1 But he did manage to try; he made the effort, he did what he could. So one day it’s more, another day less. But if a person made the effort during davening, at that opportune time, and his mind was involved in davening, it works. There are no shortcuts. And when he contemplates—what is love of Hashem? People think: what is the love of Hashem that a beinoni has, “like flames of fire”? What does that mean? When a person is interested in Hakadosh Boruch Hu right now, interested in davening, and the entire world matters to him as little as a garlic peel—that’s called love like flames of fire. You don’t need [unclear]. Of course, there are levels to this. There’s someone for whom it really is—I don’t know what. But at our level, we’re simply talking about a person for whom this world is unthinkable right now, during davening. That’s a beinoni. And the proof is that if things like this happen afterward, during the day, that itself shows he davened properly. Of course one can do more, and there are endless levels to it. We’ll see that later. Let’s learn more. “Only the impression in the mind, together with the fear of Hashem and the love for Him concealed in the right chamber [of the heart], is effective for this.” You need both things. You need the impression in the mind and the concealed love. The impression alone doesn’t work. Love alone doesn’t work. But when a person has both concealed love and an impression in the mind, that’s enough. To over—this is explained at length in chapter 25; we’ll get there, with Hashem’s help. “To overcome and rule over this evil that craves a desire, so that it should have no control or dominion in the city, bringing its desire from potential into action by clothing itself in the limbs of the body. Even in the mind alone, to think about evil, the soul has no control or dominion”—to think about it willingly in his mind, G-d forbid. He may have the thought, but not willingly. He won’t willingly accept, G-d forbid, this evil thought that rises of its own accord from the heart to the mind, as mentioned above. Rather, as soon as it rises—

58:40 Speaker 1 “There, he pushes it away with both hands. He immediately diverts his attention as soon as he realizes it is an evil thought, and does not accept it willingly, even to think about it willingly. All the more so, he will not entertain the idea of doing it, G-d forbid, or speaking about it. For one who willingly thinks about it is called a rasha at that moment, and a beinoni is never a rasha, even for a single moment. And so too in matters between one person and another: as soon as some resentment or hatred, G-d forbid, or some envy, anger, grievance, or the like rises from his heart to his mind”—just like that, a little twinge in the heart. Why did he do that to me? He blocked my way. I don’t know. Of course he’ll feel a grievance; he can’t prevent that. But don’t accept it. You don’t have to accept it. You can push it away. Know that you can. “On the contrary, the mind rules and governs the spirit in his heart, so that he does the exact opposite: treating his fellow with kindness and with even greater affection, openly shown to him; putting up with him to the furthest extent and not becoming angry, G-d forbid.” Anger is one of the character traits—again, chapter 1, remember?—that comes from the negative elements. “And also not repaying him in kind, G-d forbid.” All the more so. The truth is there’s more depth to this, but not now. “Rather, on the contrary, to repay those who have done wrong with good, as it says in the Zohar, learning from Yosef and his brothers.” What did you add here by saying “learning from Yosef and his brothers”?

1:00:17 Speaker 9 He treated them nicely, and didn’t—

1:00:20 Speaker 1 Right. But he already said that earlier. Yes.

1:00:26 Speaker 9 That he forgave them completely. Think about it: I see them like this.

1:00:29 Speaker 1 Nooo. You didn’t notice. He adds something here that he didn’t say before. What did he say before? Someone did something to me, right? He did something... hurt me, I don’t know, bothered me. Right? So I’ll restrain myself, and I won’t dwell on it, and I won’t hate him, and I won’t even hold it against him—nothing at all. Right? Why should I do good for him? Why should I repay him with good? Fine, I won’t be angry with him. Isn’t that enough? Why do I also have to do good for him? Why do I have to do good for him?

1:00:58 Speaker 9 Yes.

1:00:58 Speaker 1 No, why? What’s the reason? There are plenty of people in the world whom I don’t do favors for every day. Why is it precisely the person who did me wrong that I have to do good for? Why?

1:01:08 Speaker 9 It’s above nature.

1:01:08 Speaker 1 I’m not angry with him, nothing. I’ve erased it from my heart. I’m thinking about other things. You’re a tzaddik, my friend, let’s be—fine. But specifically to do good for him? What happened there with Yosef?

1:01:21 Speaker 9 He looked after his brothers.

1:01:22 Speaker 1 Hmm?

1:01:23 Speaker 9 He looked after his brothers.

1:01:24 Speaker 1 Ah, why? They wanted to kill him.

1:01:27 Speaker 9 There’s some kind of connection—

1:01:28 Speaker 1 They wanted to kill him.

1:01:30 Speaker 9 That it’s a connection of—

1:01:30 Speaker 1 So he says: I need to treat another Jew the way Yosef treated them. To repay—even though he did me wrong, I need to repay him with good. Why repay him with good? Why? I understand not doing him harm. I need to repay him, overcome myself, do inner work. Fine. At least I understand why.

1:01:46 Speaker 9 Yosef—ah, that’s also hashgacha pratis. Well, he was Yaakov’s son, so—

1:01:50 Speaker 1 So the Alter Rebbe says—we missed two important words here: “Rather, on the contrary, to repay those who have done wrong with good, as it says in the Zohar, learning from Yosef and his brothers.” Not according to the plain meaning.

1:02:03 Speaker 9 What does it say in the Zohar?

1:02:04 Speaker 1 What does the Zohar say? The Zohar gives a wonderful explanation. It asks this question: Why did Yosef repay them with kindness? What led him to do that? For what reason? On the plain level, that isn’t a question: it was out of respect for Yaakov Avinu. But the Zohar asks the question and gives a wonderful explanation. It says this: With every person—[unclear] in Igros Kodesh; we saw this—when something happens to a person, why does it happen? It was decreed from Above: perhaps because of something he did wrong, or because of some reckoning from previous lifetimes, or because a decree was issued for some other reason. Whatever the reason may be. So why did that person do it to me? It was decreed that the person would... well.

1:03:06 Speaker 9 Lose money.

1:03:07 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:03:08 Speaker 9 Lose it.

1:03:08 Speaker 1 No. Something that harms me.

1:03:10 Speaker 9 Why? He could, uh, damage my car.

1:03:14 Speaker 1 It was decreed that my car would be damaged. Okay? On Tuesday at nine o’clock, Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed that my car would be damaged. Why specifically him—no, not by accident. Okay, deliberately. He breaks my mirror. Okay? Why specifically him? Why did he break my mirror? “You blocked me in, so I’m going to break your mirror and I’ll sh—show you what’s what,” right? The person who harmed me did it because he intended to harm me. That’s what he wanted to do. But if he hadn’t harmed me, would my mirror have broken or not?

1:03:54 Speaker 9 No.

1:03:54 Speaker 1 Why not? Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed that my mirror would break at nine o’clock on Tuesday morning. It would have broken anyway.

1:04:01 Speaker 9 But not through him.

1:04:02 Speaker 1 Not through him. Someone else would have broken it. Right? Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed it. After all, our Sages said, “Everything is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven.” Fear of Heaven is in my hands. What happens to me is not in my hands. What does that mean? Everything comes from Heaven. It’s all hashgachah pratis, Divine Providence. Everything that happens to a person in the physical world happens because Hakadosh Boruch Hu determined that on this day, at this hour, at this very second, this would happen. And it happened. Why did it happen to me? Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed it. It has nothing to do with that person. If he hadn’t done it, someone else would have, or it would have happened some other way. It would have happened to me. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu do this to me?

1:04:45 Speaker 9 You have to look at that.

1:04:46 Speaker 1 There’s a principle: No evil descends from Above. Hakadosh Boruch Hu does only good things. Sometimes they look bad to us, but the truth is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants only good in everything He does. That’s explained in our holy book too: No evil descends from Above. Hakadosh Boruch Hu does only good things. So what follows? That person intended to harm me. But what did he actually do? He did something good. He carried out Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s decree to do something good for me. True, he broke my mirror, but it was a mirror that needed to break for my benefit.

1:05:26 Speaker 9 There’s something in that—he had the merit of [unclear].

1:05:29 Speaker 1 One second. The mirror needed to break for my sake. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to benefit me. I don’t know why it’s good, but it was for my sake. It’s for my benefit. So I shouldn’t be angry with him. I should be grateful to him. He didn’t really harm me at all. He did something for my benefit. He carried out what Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed for my benefit. This is what it means to learn from the Zohar, to learn from Yosef HaTzaddik. When a person reflects on this, he shouldn’t be angry—and not just refrain from anger; he should be grateful to him.

1:06:04 Speaker 9 Thank him.

1:06:05 Speaker 1 Thank him. So that’s chapter 12, the beinoni. What have we explained about the beinoni so far? There’s a reason I’m giving this summary, too. It’s important. Let’s go back over what we said at the beginning. First, there’s an extensive explanation, over eight or nine chapters, of the faculties of the souls: the two souls and their faculties, their inner and outer faculties, the ten faculties and the garments, and so on. There’s a battle between them. Then it explains what a tzaddik is and what a rasha is. A tzaddik is someone whose inner and outer faculties are both holy. A rasha is someone whose inner and outer faculties are both under the sway of an evil, wicked soul. In the beinoni, as we learned in this chapter, the inner faculties are wicked, while the outer faculties are those of a tzaddik. We explained how that can be and how it manifests itself. So we’ve finished explaining who the beinoni is, right? No. Something is missing. There’s another important point about the beinoni that we haven’t explained. The author of the Tanya devotes an entire chapter to it: all of chapter 13 continues chapter 12’s explanation of what a beinoni is. What does it explain? What’s missing?

1:07:33 Speaker 9 Not the beinoni? Doesn’t it speak about a beinoni who prays all day?

1:07:36 Speaker 1 That too, that too.

1:07:37 Speaker 9 Without prayer.

1:07:40 Speaker 1 With regard to the tzaddik and the rasha, we explained that each has many levels. Right? How can a tzaddik have many levels if he is entirely holy? And if a rasha is wicked, how can he have many levels? What distinguishes a tzaddik who has good from a rasha who has evil? Where do we find different levels in the beinoni?

1:08:04 Speaker 9 Overall.

1:08:05 Speaker 1 That’s what chapter 13 is about.

1:08:06 Speaker 9 Ah, right, yes.

1:08:08 Speaker 1 Chapter 13 explains the three levels of the beinoni. We’ll see a beinoni at the minimum level, right on the border of being a rasha; a beinoni at the maximum level, on the border of being a tzaddik; and a beinoni in between. From that, you’ll understand for yourself that there’s a whole spectrum between them.

1:08:33 Speaker 9 Two points of...