Thought, speech and action under the beinoni's control - Chapter 12 - Part Five

00:00 We’re here in Tanya, in the middle of chapter 12. Chapter 12 is the most important chapter when it comes to the avodah of the beinoni. It’s really the central chapter concerning the goal the Alter Rebbe has for his book, which he calls “the book of beinonim.” Where does the avodah of the beinoni begin? In chapter 12. Up to chapter 12, there were introductions; chapter 12 is the beinoni. Here, after all those introductions, the Alter Rebbe gets to what exactly the beinoni’s service of Hashem is. So we began discussing how the Alter Rebbe opens chapter 12 by explaining that the beinoni has control—and complete control—over thought, speech, and action, over the garments of the soul. He is in charge of his thought, speech, and action. When it comes to his emotions, his intellect, his inner connection, he is not in charge. He has a struggle. That is really the main difference between a tzaddik and a beinoni: the tzaddik has succeeded in transforming his mind and heart too, so that his whole being belongs to Hashem. He has a love of Hashem that is a delight, and the whole idea of... something material is completely out of the question for him. That’s not how it is for the beinoni. He definitely has desires and cravings; he has a struggle. But when it comes to what he actually does, to his body and its limbs—which includes the three areas of thought, speech, and action—the beinoni is in charge. He has control, and that control means not only that he actually observes Torah and mitzvos, but that he “has not transgressed and will not transgress.” We discussed in previous classes what “has not transgressed and will not transgress” means: the way he accepts upon himself the yoke of Heaven in observing Torah and mitzvos is such that acting against the Creator’s will is completely out of the question for him. Why is it out of the question? Because of kabbolas ol. Not because he has no cravings at all, but in practice he is in charge of the garments,

02:06 thought, speech, and action, in the state he is in now: “has not transgressed and will not transgress.” “Has not transgressed” doesn’t mean he was born a tzaddik. It means he has done teshuvah. As we discussed, he may be someone who was a transgressor until yesterday. But now, because he has done teshuvah—and teshuvah uproots the past and repairs the past too—he is in a state of “has not transgressed”: he has done complete teshuvah. And he “will not transgress,” because his connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu has become such that transgression is completely out of the question for him. Tanya goes on to say that when it comes to the feelings of the heart, for the beinoni it depends on whether he is at prayer or going about the rest of his day. During prayer, the beinoni also has control over his heart, not just over thought, speech, and action. That is something special about prayer: it is a time for contemplation. When he contemplates the greatness of Hashem, he succeeds in awakening love and fear of Hashem, so that at that moment his heart, too, belongs entirely to Hashem. But this is something special about the time of prayer, which is a special auspicious time. Because of that, a person is able to attain love of Hashem during prayer, to the point that his heart, too, burns with love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But because he is not a tzaddik, his animal soul can awaken again after prayer. After prayer he can once again lose sight of it, as the animal soul’s desires take hold, as though he had never prayed. The emotions can rage that strongly. But here’s the point: although they awaken within him, when it comes to action he is in charge. What gives the beinoni the strength to maintain control? Although his animal soul awakens after prayer, how

04:05 can he keep it from finding expression in thought, speech, and action—so that he does not actually commit any transgression and, on the contrary, his thought, speech, and action remain as they should be? The Alter Rebbe gives two things, two strengths we have that enable us to overcome the animal soul and, at least, bring our thought, speech, and action into line. What are they? First, the mind rules over the heart. Every person has this ability by nature. It has nothing to do with one’s spiritual level; you don’t have to be a tzaddik for it. You just have to be a normal, healthy person. By the nature with which every person is born, the mind rules over the heart. A person has control over the heart and therefore over its desires. He can overcome them and not let the heart’s impulses dictate what he does, but do what he needs to do rather than what his heart pulls him toward. That is simply the natural principle that the mind rules over the heart. It does not yet have to do with G-dliness. Then there is a second thing, something special we have as Jews. Beyond the mind’s rule over the heart, on the side of holiness there is a special quality of light over darkness. As King Shlomo says, “And I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, as light has an advantage over darkness.” At first glance, what is he telling us? King Shlomo doesn’t seem to be saying anything remarkable here. Every little child knows that wisdom has an advantage over folly, and every little child knows... And what does the comparison to light’s advantage over darkness add? He doesn’t seem to be saying anything new. So the Alter Rebbe explains that he means to tell us how it works. He does not just mean

05:47 that the wisdom of holiness compares to the folly of kelipah as light compares to darkness. He means to describe how it has its effect, just as with light and darkness. How does light overcome darkness? Not by fighting. Light does not need to fight darkness. It only needs to shine, and automatically a little light dispels a great deal of darkness. That is how light takes over from darkness: it does so automatically. The moment light enters a dark place, the darkness disappears on its own. The same applies to wisdom and folly, holiness and kelipah. The moment the light of the G-dly soul shines—when a person allows the light of his neshamah, his G-dly soul, the light of holiness, to shine within him—the kelipah automatically flees and disappears. This is the idea of the spirit of folly. Kelipah is a spirit of folly. If you allow the wisdom of holiness to shine within you, then the moment its light shines, the spirit of folly is nullified. That is what we have learned recently. So now we’re continuing inside, on page 17, in the middle of the page, at the line “and the folly of kelipah, which is pushed aside.” “Nevertheless...” Up to this point, he has been speaking about the positive side of the beinoni. What does the beinoni have? What does he have? These special strengths that every Jew has—that’s the beinoni. A beinoni is not someone on a lofty spiritual level; being a beinoni is within reach of every one of us. Because the mind rules over the heart, and even more because of the advantage holiness has over kelipah, every Jew has the strength to overcome the animal soul. The G-dly soul has an advantage over the animal soul and the power to control it. If so, why can’t I be a tzaddik for the same reason? So the Alter Rebbe now comes to explain why he still isn’t a tzaddik. This is enough to be a beinoni, but it still isn’t

07:45 Enough. It gives him the strength to be a tzaddik. That is the continuation of the Tanya here. The Alter Rebbe says: “Nevertheless, he is not called a tzaddik at all.” Even so, the Alter Rebbe says, this person cannot be called a tzaddik. Although, as we said, the G-dly soul rules over his thought, speech, and action, he is not a tzaddik—not merely not a tzaddik, but “not called a tzaddik at all.” That means he is not even a “tzaddik who has evil.” Although, as we said in chapter 10, a tzaddik who has evil still has some small measure of evil, it is utterly nullified. Here, he is not even a tzaddik who has evil. Why? “For this superiority of the light of the G-dly soul over the darkness and foolishness of the kelipah, which is automatically pushed aside...” When we say that every Jew has the power of his G-dly soul, and that when the G-dly soul shines, the darkness is nullified, this superiority of light over darkness applies only to the garments. “It is only in its three aforementioned garments.” The power of the holiness of the G-dly soul—when we say that light pushes away darkness—applies only to the garments. “But not in its essence and substance”—where does he say it? Ah, “three garments”—“and not in its essence and substance over the essence and substance of the kelipah.” When it comes to its essence and substance, that is something else. That requires greater strength. “But not in its essence and substance over the essence and substance of the kelipah, for the essence and substance of the animal soul...” Remember, when the Alter Rebbe says “essence and substance,” he means intellect and emotions. In Tanya, when the Alter Rebbe speaks of the soul’s essence and substance, he means intellect and emotions. As is known, in Tanya the intellect and emotions are called the soul’s essence and substance, because Tanya is not speaking about chayah and yechidah. So when Tanya speaks of the soul’s essence and substance, it means that aspect

09:49 of the soul that is the person himself. The person himself is his intellect and emotions, especially his emotions. In chapter 37, the Alter Rebbe says that, even within intellect and emotions, what is truly the person’s essence and substance? It is the emotions. After all, in practice, a person’s intellect is ultimately not the person himself. Intellect is understanding. I can understand things I do not particularly like. A person can study and contemplate things he does not really identify with, yet still understand them. Emotion, on the other hand—that is me myself. That is the person. A person is so connected to his feelings. If I love something, I feel it. I live it; it resonates with me and makes me feel good, and so on. So emotion is the essence and substance, and in a person, that primarily means the feelings of the heart. That is why it is not so easy to bring about a transformation, a change in one’s essence and substance. It is like what Chassidus explains about the physical world: a person can change his clothes. One outfit, another outfit—you can change your clothes. But changing something essential is different. As Chassidus says, that is the difference between the body and a garment. You can change a garment. You can take it off, put it on, arrange it this way or that, but the body is my body. I live with my body. If a person wants to make changes to his body, that is not so simple. That takes effort, whether you like it or not. The same applies to the soul, to the soul’s garments and its faculties. The soul’s garments can be changed easily, if a person has control over them. The soul’s faculties are the person himself. That is a deeper, more inward place within a person, and changing them is difficult,

11:31 because a person identifies and unites with his living faculties and emotions, and they become his nature. So that is hard to change. It does not happen so easily. That is why, when we say that the mind rules over the heart—rules, exercises control—that translates into actual practice where control is possible. And likewise, the point we are discussing concerns the garments. But when it comes to his essence and substance, the beinoni still does not have control. “For the essence and substance of the animal soul, which comes from kelipah and is in the left chamber of the heart, has not been displaced from its place at all in the beinoni after prayer.” We are speaking about a beinoni who has davened, as the Alter Rebbe said earlier. He davened, contemplated during davening, awakened within himself love and fear of Hashem, and went through that whole process. During davening he experienced love of Hashem like flames of fire, but that was something particular to davening. After davening, his heart had not been transformed. As the Alter Rebbe will explain in the next chapter, the animal soul is “asleep.” Even when a beinoni is in one of those moments of inspiration, when he is stirred and excited and fully engaged, contemplating Hashem’s greatness—even when he has succeeded in attaining love of Hashem and his heart burns with that love like flames of fire—the animal soul has not changed. It is as though asleep. At that time it has no control, no say, as though it has fallen asleep. But once the excitement of davening passes, it can wake up. And not only can it wake up; it actually does wake up and begins to disturb him. So after davening, when he no longer has that fiery love of Hashem revealed in his heart throughout the day, but rather “his interior is paved with hidden love,” he does not have love openly revealed in his heart. He has only

13:34 this state of “his interior is paved with hidden love,” the natural love in the soul of every Jew. There are the words “his interior is paved with love.” That is the language of a verse in Shir Hashirim, which speaks of love. It says, “his interior is paved with love.” What does “paved” mean? It is like the Hebrew word for floor. It is on the floor; when you pave a floor, you put down what covers it. That is called paving in Hebrew. In other words, it covers the floor. So “paved with love” is like a covering, a thin covering. It means my heart is not full of love. During davening, even a beinoni can have a time when he is absorbed in davening and spiritually aroused, and then his heart is full of love. There is a fire of love. But after davening, that love is no longer there. Something remains, though, like a layer on the floor—a little covering of love remains with him, because of the hidden natural love in the heart of every Jew. The Alter Rebbe will explain further on, in chapters 18 and 19, the well-known chapters of Tanya, that every Jew inherently has a natural love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why, even after davening, this love remains with him throughout the day and gives him strength as well, as the Alter Rebbe continues. And then what happens at that time? “Then the evil in the left chamber of the heart can gain strength.” Once a person is past davening and no longer has love like flames of fire, but only the natural love, that is not strong enough to prevent desires from awakening. So after davening, the foolishness can awaken again; the spirit of folly can return, with all kinds of foolish thoughts in his head, all kinds of distracting thoughts and confusion.

15:39 Not good. And to crave all kinds of physical things—what does that mean? Whether permitted or forbidden, G-d forbid. But a beinoni, too, can have desires. And not just ordinary desires: the Alter Rebbe says something novel here. Not only desires for permitted things, but even desires for forbidden things. A desire for something forbidden can arise in a beinoni. We’ll soon see how that fits with what we said earlier—that a beinoni is in control even of his thoughts. So how can he have a desire? And not just any desire: the Alter Rebbe says even a desire for something forbidden. The Alter Rebbe will explain this shortly. But first, the Alter Rebbe says that because this love does not remain with him throughout the day, because it does not shine within him at full strength, after davening he can experience desire and longing, and an inner struggle. Not only over desires for permitted things, but even over desires for forbidden things. The Alter Rebbe explains, though: “But regarding a forbidden matter, it does not occur to him to actually commit the prohibition, G-d forbid.” It’s not that he desires to go and actually commit a sin. He may think about it, but he would never, G-d forbid, want to commit the sin in practice. That is completely beyond a beinoni; it is utterly unthinkable to him. Rather, “thoughts of sin, which are worse than sin itself, can fall into his mind and arise there, disturbing him from Torah study and avodah, as our Sages said: There are three sins from which a person is not spared each day: thoughts of sin, scrutiny of prayer, etc.” Now, we need to explain in detail what this means. How is it that, on the one hand, you say a beinoni is in control of his thought, speech, and action, while on the other hand, you say he can nevertheless have desires—not just for permitted things, but even for forbidden things? What can happen, and what cannot? He cites a

17:30 teaching of our Sages about this. What does that teaching mean? “There are three sins from which a person is not spared each day.” Yes, and he mentions thoughts of sin and scrutiny of prayer. So a beinoni does have thoughts of sin. But earlier, in chapter 11, the Alter Rebbe said that someone with thoughts of sin is a rasha. The Alter Rebbe also cited there the statement that thoughts of sin are worse than sin itself, and said that a person with thoughts of sin is a rasha—at least a rasha who has good within him, but a rasha nonetheless. Here, the Alter Rebbe says he remains a beinoni. So what exactly is the difference? There are several other things we need to understand as well. With Hashem’s help, we’ll discuss this in the next class.