Tanya: Chapter 30 - Part 2

One who suffers from timtum halev must also set his heart to fulfill the instruction of our Sages: “Be lowly of spirit before every man.”1

The wording implies: “Be thus,” and do not merely act thus, in all sincerity,

in the presence of every man, even in the presence of the most religiously irreverent people (kal shebekalim).

This can be accomplished by following the instruction of our Sages: “Judge not your fellow man until you have stood i.e., placed yourself in his place.”2

For it is literally his “place” i.e., his physical environment that causes him to sin,

since his livelihood requires him to go about the marketplace all day, and whenever he is not thus engaged he is of those who sit at the street corners. Thus, his eyes see all sorts of temptation, and “what the eyes see, the heart desires.”3

Additionally, it may be his spiritual “place,” the nature of his evil impulse, that leads him to sin: his evil nature burns “like a baker’s fiery oven,” which is heated with greater frequency and intensity than a domestic oven, as it is written in Hosea, “It burns like a flaming fire.”4

It is different, however, with he who goes about but little in the marketplace, and most of the day he is at home rather than at the street corners, and he therefore encounters less temptation.

Even if he does go about the marketplace all day so that his physical “place” is the same as that of the kal shebekalim, it may be that his spiritual “place” is different in that he is not so passionate by nature and is therefore not as greatly tempted by the sights of the market-place.

For the evil impulse is not the same in everyone. One person’s nature may be more passionate and the other’s less so, as explained elsewhere.5

In truth, even he who is extremely passionate by nature and whose livelihood obliges him to sit all day at the street corners

has no excuse whatsoever for his sins, and he is termed a rasha gamur (“an utter evildoer”) for not having the dread of G‑d before his eyes.

For he should have controlled himself and restrained the feeling of desire in his heart because of the fear of G‑d, Who sees all his actions.

This fear of G‑d would have enabled him to overcome his desires, despite the difficulties imposed by his surroundings and his nature, for, as explained above,6 the mind has supremacy over the heart by nature of one’s birth, i.e., it is man’s inborn characteristic that his mind is able to master and restrain his heart’s desires.

Truly, it is a great, fierce struggle to break one’s [evil] nature, which burns like a fiery flame, for the fear of G‑d; indeed, it is like a veritable test.

Therefore, every man ought to weigh and examine his own position, according to the standards of his place and rank in divine service,

as to whether he serves G‑d in a situation requiring a comparable struggle in a manner commensurate with the dimensions of such a fierce battle and test as the kal shebekalim faces.

In the realm of “do good”—in the service of prayer with kavanah (devotion), for example, he must battle his evil inclination daily in order to pour out his soul before G‑d with his entire strength

to the extent of “wringing out” his soul,8 i.e., exhausting all of his intellectual and emotional power in his devotion.

This battle must be waged both before (i.e., preparatory to) and also during prayer, as follows: He must wage a great and intense war against his body and the animal soul within it which impede his devotion, crushing and grinding them like dust every single day before the morning and evening prayers.

Also, during prayer, he must exert himself with an exertion of the spirit, so that his spirit should not grow weary of lengthy contemplation on the greatness of G‑d, and an exertion of the body to remove the hindrances to devotion imposed by the body, as will be explained further at length.9

Anyone who has not attained this standard of waging such a strenuous war against his body,

has not yet measured up to the quality and dimension of the war waged daily within the kal shebekalim against the evil nature, which burns like a fiery flame,

so that it (this powerful evil impulse) be humbled and broken through the fear of G‑d.

So, too, with one’s kavanah in the Grace after Meals and in the benedictions, whether those said prior to eating or those recited before performing a mitzvah, all of which requires a battle with one’s evil impulse,

not to mention one’s intention in performing a mitzvah—that it be done (solely) for the sake of a mitzvah, i.e., for G‑d’s sake; this requires a still greater effort, and in this, one will surely find himself wanting.

Similarly with regard to the battle required in the matter of one’s occupation in Torah study, one must struggle to study far more than what is demanded by his innate or accustomed desire by means of a mighty battle with his body.

For to study a fraction more than is one’s wont entails but a minor tussle. It neither parallels nor bears comparison with the war of the kal shebekalim against his evil impulse, which burns like fire,

for which he is nonetheless called utterly wicked (rasha gamur) if he does not conquer his impulse so that it be subdued and crushed before G‑d.

What difference is there between the category of “turn away from evil’’—in which the kal shebekalim fails by active violation and the category of “do good”—in which he fails by neglecting to exert himself in prayer, Torah study, and the like?

Both are the commandments of the Holy King, the Only and Unique One, blessed be He.

So, too, with other commandments requiring a struggle, one may find that he does not wage war adequately against his evil impulse, especially in matters involving money,

such as the service (“labor”) of charity, i.e., giving charity in a manner involving “labor”—far more than is his wont, and the like.

Even in the category of “turn away from evil,” every thinking man can discover within himself that he does not turn completely and totally away from evil,

in a situation requiring a battle of the level i.e., magnitude described above, i.e., the battle required of the kal shebekalim, or even in a situation requiring a battle of a lesser magnitude.

For example, he may find that he does not summon up the strength to stop in the middle of a pleasant gossip or in the middle of relating a tale discrediting his fellow,

as he ought to do even if it is a very slight slur, and even if it be true, and even though his purpose in relating it is to exonerate himself—

as is known from what Rabbi Shimon said to his father Rabbeinu Hakadosh concerning a problematic bill of divorce that was improperly written: “I did not write it, Yehudah the tailor wrote it,” where the slur was a minor one, and the purpose was self-vindication—and yet, his father replied: “Keep away from slander.” (Note there in the Gemara, Tractate Bava Batra, beginning of ch. 10.10)

The same applies to very many similar things which occur frequently.

This is especially true with regard to sanctifying oneself by refraining from indulgence in permitted matters—and this is a Biblical commandment,11 derived from the verses: “You shall be holy…” and “Sanctify yourselves….”12

Moreover, even according to the opinion that this commandment is not of Biblical origin, yet “Rabbinic enactments are even stricter than Biblical laws…,”13 and one will often find himself succumbing to self-indulgence when the temptation is strong and requires a battle to overcome it.

But all these and similar matters are among “the sins which people trample underfoot,”14 insensitive to their importance,

and which have come to be regarded as permissible because they are committed repeatedly.15

In truth, however, if he is a scholar and upholds G‑d’s Torah and wishes to be close to G‑d,

his sin is unbearably great and his guilt is increased manifold for his not waging war and not overcoming his impulse in a manner commensurate with the quality and nature of the war mentioned above that the kal shebekalim must face.

His guilt is far greater than the guilt of the kal shebekalim, the most worthless of the street-corner squatters, who are remote from G‑d and His Torah.

Their guilt for not summoning up the fear of G‑d, Who knows and sees all their actions, in order to restrain their impulse, which burns like a fiery flame, is not as heinous

as the guilt of one who draws ever nearer to G‑d, His Torah, and His service.

As our Sages, of blessed memory, said of the apostate “Acher,” Elisha ben Avuyah: “Because he knew My glory…,”16 said G‑d; if despite this, he still sinned, his guilt is far greater.

Therefore, our Sages declared in regard to the illiterate that “Deliberate sins are regarded in their case as inadvertent acts,”17 since they are unaware of the gravity of their sins.