We are now at chapter 14 of Tanya, page 19b (page 38). This chapter picks up from what we studied at length in the last two chapters: in chapter 12 the Alter Rebbe defined what a beinoni is (the "intermediate" person), and in chapter 13 we learned that there are levels within the beinoni, where three general levels were presented.
The essence of the definition of the beinoni: in everything that belongs to thought, speech and action he is fully careful, and he never fails at all, and in this respect he resembles a tzaddik. But in everything that belongs to the heart, to his inner side and to his very essence, there are levels, and essentially he resembles even a rasha. On this basis the Alter Rebbe explained in chapter 13 why the soul is made to swear before it descends into the world, "be in your own eyes like a rasha": the intent of the wording "like a rasha" is that he should be a beinoni, for in his essence he resembles a rasha, while on the practical, operative side he resembles a tzaddik.
The three levels of the beinoni that we learned:
The businessman: a beinoni who faces a daily struggle with the desires that are right in front of his eyes, that he keeps encountering, and they try (and even succeed) to raise stray thoughts in his mind. But because he is a beinoni he has siyata dishmaya, the Almighty helps him, and he manages to push this away and not dwell on it willingly. This is the lowest level of beinoni.
The one who "dwells in the tent": he sits and learns Torah, his head is occupied with study, and therefore the desire does not rise so readily into his mind, and the struggle is easier for him. With him it comes from the power of the mind ruling over the heart.
The beinoni who prays: and especially the one about whom it was said, "If only a person would pray the whole day long," as Rava held himself to be on this level. This is a beinoni who has feeling, even revealed feeling of love of G-d, and then his heart too is not aroused by any desire at all. That is why Rava thought he was a beinoni, even though in truth he was a tzaddik, because for a beinoni at this level the distance between him and a tzaddik shrinks until it is hard to detect.
Having defined the matter of the beinoni and its general levels, in chapter 14 the Alter Rebbe turns to the practical directive for every single person, and he opens: "והנה מדת הבינוני היא מדת כל אדם ואחריה כל אדם ימשוך" ("Now, the quality of the beinoni is the quality of every person, and after it every person should draw himself"). This quality of the beinoni, being careful at every single moment in thought, speech and action not to fail in anything that runs against G-d's will, is a quality suited to every person, whoever he may be. And consequently, since everyone has a share in it and everyone can reach it, "after it every person should draw himself": he has to pull himself to genuinely arrive at this state.
Here we should note a fascinating precision in his wording. The thing that belongs to everyone, that everyone not only must aspire to but is actually able to carry out, the Alter Rebbe calls "the quality (middah) of the beinoni," and not "the level (madreigah) of the beinoni." What is the difference between a "middah" and a "madreigah," and why was he precise in saying that the middah of the beinoni is the middah of every person? I heard a beautiful explanation of this.
As an introduction, let us recall what we discussed in earlier lessons: the beinoni is not merely someone who does not actually fall into sin, but someone in whose soul the very will to sin is ruled out. As we learned in chapter 11 regarding the "rasha who has good in him": a person can be one who does not sin in practice at all, and nevertheless he is called a "rasha who has good in him," because sin is not ruled out for him. Even though that is a high level, he is called a rasha, because sinning is not ruled out for him.
If so, the beinoni, who is above that, has a kabbolas ol malchus shomayim (an acceptance of the yoke of Heaven) of such a kind that the whole matter is simply unthinkable for him. Every person can find within himself sins that, as far as he is concerned, are absolutely out of the question and would never even enter his mind, as opposed to other sins that a person "treads on with his heels" (in Rashi's phrase). For the beinoni, anything at all that runs against G-d's will is unthinkable in that way, and to say that everyone has a share in that is to describe something rare.
That is why the Alter Rebbe does not say that the madreigah of the beinoni is the madreigah of every person. A "ba'al madreigah" is someone who stands on a lofty level, and a beinoni for whom sinning is unthinkable in his very soul is a ba'al madreigah, a person of a special stature. But the "middah of the beinoni," the technical, practical side of him, that in actual fact he does not sin in anything, in thought, speech or action (even though the beinoni himself also has the dimension of heart and feeling, in which he rises and strives), that indeed is the middah of every person. Therefore, "after it every person should draw himself": everyone has to pull himself at least to this much, and at any given moment of the day a person can tell himself: right now I can be a beinoni and not fail in anything of thought, speech or action.
In the very next lines the Alter Rebbe will explain what a person must explain to himself and which points he must contemplate, so that he will be given the strength truly not to fail.
One of the chassidim, in his commentary on this chapter, pointed out that the Alter Rebbe repeats the word "adam" (person) three times here: "the middah of every adam," "and after it every adam should draw himself," "that every adam can be a beinoni." This is to stress that whoever is not a beinoni is simply not an "adam." One who transgresses G-d's will is not within the category of adam; and if you want to be an adam, the middah of the beinoni is the middah of every adam, and one who is called adam must be a beinoni. And as is known, "adam" is a title unique to Israel, as our Sages said, "You are called adam."
"שכל אדם יכול להיות בינוני בכל עת ובכל שעה" ("for every person can be a beinoni at every time and at every hour"). There is no situation in which a person can say: at that moment I was incapable of being a beinoni, I had no choice but to sin, it was something impossible to withstand. There is no such thing: at every time and every hour, every second of the day, it is in his hands.
And it is not that the beinoni will loathe evil, "כי הבינוני אינו מואס ברע" ("for the beinoni does not loathe evil"). He is not like the tzaddik, about whom we learned an entire chapter: the tzaddik, in proportion to his love of G-dliness, loathes and hates anything evil. The beinoni is not someone who, upon seeing something evil, will recoil from it of his own accord, "שזהו דבר המסור ללב" ("for that is a matter entrusted to the heart"). Loathing evil means that his heart is in a different state altogether, whereas the beinoni in his essence resembles a rasha, and he has it in him to desire certain desires. "ולא כל העתים שוות" ("and not all times are alike"). A person is not always in the same emotional state: sometimes he recoils from evil more and sometimes less, sometimes he is drawn and sometimes not; there are transgressions that he genuinely loathes and others that he does not loathe so much.
So what is demanded of every person? "אלא סור מרע ועשה טוב" ("rather, turn away from evil and do good") on the practical, operative side: that he not fail in a single sin, the 365 prohibitions, and that he do everything demanded of him, the 248 positive commandments, and all of this "דהיינו בפועל ממש, במעשה דיבור ומחשבה" ("that is, in actual practice, in action, speech and thought"). In other words, when we are speaking of thought, speech and action, and not of the heart and the emotions, "שבהם הבחירה והיכולת והרשות נתונה לכל אדם" ("in which the choice, the ability and the permission are given to every person") to act, to speak and to think even directly against the cravings of his heart and his very character.
A person has free choice and he has the ability, and he cannot say "I am incapable." Even if his heart is demanding some desire with full force, the most negative and lowly of desires, he has the power to say to his heart: I am not doing this. True, I want it, but I will not do it: I will restrain myself and not look, not speak, not think and not act, and so with each and every thing.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: "כי גם בשעה שהלב חומד ומתאווה איזו תאווה גשמית בהיתר או באיסור ח\"ו יכול להתגבר ולהסיח דעתו ממנה לגמרי" ("for even at the moment that the heart covets and desires some physical desire, whether permitted or, G-d forbid, forbidden, he can overcome it and turn his mind away from it entirely"). This applies both to a physical desire that is permitted, such as a food with the most meticulous kashrus which he is eating purely out of desire, and to a desire that is forbidden, where he wants to eat a forbidden food, G-d forbid. Even when the heart is burning and the soul is raging, and especially by the beinoni on the lowest level, the businessman, who is out and about and whose eye sees, he has the power to overcome it and to turn his mind away from the matter entirely.
Incidentally, turning the mind away is the very point of success at which the beinoni must begin: not to grapple with the matter and think about it, but to divert his mind from it. This appears many times in the Rebbe's letters, as advice for all sorts of situations a person finds himself in: turn your mind away from it, think about how you can divert your attention, think about something else and do not occupy yourself with this, and then the existing desire will subside on its own.
The relationship between a person and his heart:
Before we see what the beinoni is to think to himself in order to actually succeed in overcoming the desire, let us first set out a few points. First, the relationship between a person and his heart: does the person rule over his heart, or does the heart rule over him, or is he in an in-between state, where he does not rule his heart and his heart does not rule him, and the matter depends on daily work? This, in essence, is the difference between tzaddikim, resha'im and beinonim.
Tzaddikim: they always rule over the heart, their heart is in their own possession. They are the ones who decide what the heart will feel, and therefore the Midrash says, "tzaddikim resemble their Creator." Accordingly, wherever Tanach mentions tzaddikim who thought something, or whose heart raised an idea, the wording is that he said to his heart: in the story of the Flood it says, "And G-d said to His heart," which is, as it were, a figure of speech, for He has no physical heart, but the Torah uses language the ear can hear. And so too with the tzaddikim: of Chanah, who prayed, it says, "and Chanah was speaking to her heart," and of King David in the book of Shmuel, "and David said to his heart." The tzaddik tells his heart what to feel; he is the one who rules over the heart.
Resha'im: exactly the opposite, they are in the possession of their heart. The heart, which is their yetzer hara, rules over them, and all their negative feelings steer them, and they cannot gain control over this at all. Therefore, wherever Tanach says of a rasha that he thought something, the wording changes: "and Esav said in his heart," and not "to his heart." He is not speaking to the heart but out of the heart; his heart is the one speaking, and that is why this is what he says. So too with Haman in the Megillah: "and Haman said in his heart."
That is the point of difference: the tzaddik speaks to his heart, and the rasha speaks out of his heart.
In summary: in chapter 14 the Alter Rebbe moves from defining the beinoni to the practical directive for every single person: "the middah of the beinoni is the middah of every person, and after it every person should draw himself." We were precise about the word "middah" rather than "madreigah": the madreigah of the beinoni, in which sin is unthinkable in his very soul, is a special stature, but his practical quality, not to fail in actual practice in thought, speech and action, belongs to every person, at every time and every hour. We also learned that not every person is asked to loathe evil, since that is a matter entrusted to the heart and not all times are alike, but rather "turn away from evil and do good" in actual practice, in which the choice, the ability and the permission are given to every person, even against the cravings of his heart and his character. We also looked at the relationship between a person and his heart: the tzaddik speaks to his heart, and the rasha speaks out of his heart.
In the next part we will take up where the beinoni stands within this relationship between a person and his heart, and what a person is to contemplate and think to himself in order to overcome the desire in practice.