תַּעֲנִית, סְלִיחוֹת, אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ.

[The Morning Service on this] fast day includes Selichos1 and Avinu Malkeinu.2

מַעֲנֵה הַצֶּמַח צֶדֶק עַל יְחִידוּת: כְּתִיב יַעֲזוֹב רָשָׁע דַּרְכּוֹ וְאִישׁ אָוֶן מַחְשְׁבוֹתָיו גו'. אָוֶן הוּא מִלְּשׁוֹן אוֹן בְּחוֹלָם, שֶׁפִּרוּשׁוֹ כֹּחַ וְעוֹז. וּכְשֵׁם דְיַעֲזוֹב רָשָׁע דַּרְכּוֹ זֶהוּ דָבָר הַמּוּכְרָח, אֲשֶׁר בְּלֹא תְּשׁוּבָה אִי אֶפְשָׁר לָגֶשֶׁת אֶל הַקֹּדֶשׁ, הִנֵּה כְּמוֹ כֵן צָרִיךְ הָאִישׁ אוֹן, כְּלוֹמַר אִישׁ הֶחָזָק בְּדַעַת עַצְמוֹ, לַעֲזוֹב מַחְשְׁבוֹתָיו, וְלֹא יֹאמַר אִיך זאָג אַזוֹי, אִיך האַלט אַזוֹי, כִּי כָל “אִיך" וּמְצִיאוּת הוּא מְקוֹר הָרַע וְגוֹרֵם פֵּרוּד לְבָבוֹת.

In response to a question raised at yechidus,3 the Tzemach Tzedek once explained: “It is written,4 ‘Let the wicked man abandon his path and the man of iniquity [abandon] his thoughts.’

“The word אָוֶן (‘iniquity’) can also be interpreted as hinting at אוֹן (‘strength’). Just as a wicked man must ‘abandon his path,’ for without teshuvah he cannot approach holiness, so too, a man of strength — that is, a person who is strong and confident in his own opinions — must ‘abandon his thoughts.’ He should no longer say: ‘This is what I say,’ or ‘This is how I hold.’ For any mention of ‘I’ and [any conception of oneself as an] entity [of weighty import] is the source of evil and instills divisiveness between people’s hearts.”5

A Story with an Echo

The maamar from which the above teaching is taken tells of a Torah scholar who complained to the Tzemach Tzedek that his colleagues were not treating him with the respect he felt was his due: “Wherever I move about in the House of Study, people always tread on me.”

The Tzemach Tzedek replied: “When you have spread yourself out over the whole House of Study, someone will be treading on you wherever you step….”

When a person’s ego expands to such an extent, it becomes “the source of evil,” because it shifts his attention away from what G‑d asks of him and focuses it solely on his own needs and desires. And once his own desires are dominant, only a thin line distances him from transgressing G‑d’s Will.

Similarly, such self-centeredness instills “divisiveness between hearts,” because such a person can relate to others (even to his or her spouse) only to the extent that they fit into his or her own scheme of things. There is no way a person can genuinely love another and relate to that person as he or she is without going beyond his individual desires and wants.