In the previous part we learned the Alter Rebbe's advice: train the soul to find evil repulsive, by going over and over the hisbonenus (contemplation) brought there. In this part we complete the picture: what sort of revulsion is being asked of us, how it differs from sigufim (self-affliction), and why, when it comes to the positive side - rejoicing in Hashem - the Alter Rebbe switches to an entirely different kind of language.
Revulsion at evil, and how it differs from sigufim:
We are not speaking here about sigufim at all. Self-affliction means depriving yourself of things you actually need; here we are speaking about negating forbidden cravings, or about extras that serve no need whatsoever, and in that there is no affliction at all. A person trains himself so that a tasty food he does not need - a cake heaped with cream, French fries, whatever it happens to be in each person's world - should become genuinely repulsive in his eyes. And how much more so with things that are outright forbidden, such as forbidden sights.
How does one train oneself? Every time a person encounters such a thing, let him get into the habit of spitting to the side, the way a person does when he sees something that turns his stomach. This is not a demonstration for the outside world or for anyone else; no one even needs to notice. It is purely his own inner reaction, to himself. And when he repeats this again and again, it becomes impressed in his soul until the evil actually does become repulsive to him, in the Alter Rebbe's words, "יהא נמאס קצת באמת" ("it will become somewhat repulsive to him in truth").
[It is worth emphasizing that this revulsion has nothing at all to do with low spirits or depression. It is a sense of disgust at the thing itself. A person does not eat food he finds revolting; and once he has trained himself to see the thing as repulsive, he is glad he did not touch it, and he even feels pity for the one who is eating it, the way you would look at someone pulling food out of a garbage bin and eating it. This does not arrive in a single day. It comes through habit and practice, until even something merely superfluous becomes repulsive in his eyes.]
After the negative side, the Alter Rebbe turns to the positive side: "וכשירגיל לשמח נפשו בה'" ("and when he accustoms himself to gladden his soul in Hashem") - to take joy in matters of G-dliness, in mitzvos, in the festivals. How? "על ידי התבוננות בגדולת ה'" ("through contemplating the greatness of Hashem"). When he contemplates Hashem's greatness at length, he will come to grasp that this is something that gladdens and enlivens the soul.
Here the precise wording deserves attention. On the negative side the Alter Rebbe wrote that when a person trains himself to find evil repulsive, "יהא נמאס קצת באמת" - it really will become somewhat repulsive to him. But on the positive side he does not write that he will really become somewhat joyful. Instead he writes: "הרי באתערותא דלתתא אתערותא דלעילא" ("for through an arousal from below comes an arousal from Above"). When a person arouses his own soul from below, with abundant contemplation of the things that lead to joy in Hashem, this awakens a response from Above, and the Holy One acts upon him in the very way that he is acting upon himself.
This is the well known interpretation of the Baal Shem Tov on the verse "ה' שומרך ה' צלך על יד ימינך" ("Hashem is your guardian, Hashem is your shadow at your right hand"): Hashem is a person's shadow. Just as someone walking on a sunny day who moves his hand sees his shadow instantly make that very same movement, so too "Hashem is your shadow." If a person wants the Holy One to do something with him, it depends on him: the person acts, and Hashem, like a shadow, does the same. If a person will arouse in himself, from below, a desire to rejoice in G-dliness, the Holy One will bring it about that he genuinely has that joy in G-dliness.
And why, on the positive side, does it not happen on its own? Because worldly matters and their cravings are found right here in our world and are familiar to us; they are part of daily life. Therefore, when a person trains himself to be disgusted by them and to keep away from them, it lies within his own control, and he can work on himself and reach that state. G-dliness, however, is abstract to our awareness, and it is not in our hands that by thinking about it a great deal we will suddenly begin to love it. Without siyata dishmaya (heavenly assistance) it will not come by itself, and that is precisely why here an isarusa dil'eila, an arousal from Above, is needed.
And then something unusual and rare may take place. The Alter Rebbe uses the expression "וכולי האי ואולי" ("all this, and perhaps") - perhaps, after all this effort, labor, investment, prayer and contemplation, "יערה עליו רוח ממרום" ("a spirit will be poured upon him from on high"), that the Holy One will pour out upon him a G-dly spirit from Above, "ויזכה לבחינת רוח משרש איזה צדיק שתתעבר בו לעבוד ה' בשמחה אמיתית" ("and he will merit a level of ruach from the root of some tzaddik, which will be vested in him, to serve Hashem with true joy").
What does this mean? A tzaddik he will not become, since only one who was created from the outset with the makeup of a tzaddik reaches that level, and this person was created to be a beinoni (an intermediate person). But he can merit that from the root of a true tzaddik, someone who possesses a root of righteousness in full, a level of ruach should come down and become vested in him: not the level of neshama, but the level of ruach (of the levels nefesh, ruach, neshama, chaya, yechida), which is a higher level than nefesh. This ruach enters him and lifts his soul to a higher state, until he genuinely has love for G-dliness and true joy in serving Hashem.
And this involves no loss whatsoever to the tzaddik. The soul is spiritual and infinite; you can take from it and it remains whole. It is like a flame from which another flame is kindled: the original fire loses nothing at all when another candle is lit from it.
Here we should distinguish between different ways in which a soul descends:
Gilgul, reincarnation: the soul comes down into the world again, sometimes because it did not complete everything it was charged with during its time here.
A descent for the sake of the generation: sometimes a tzaddik who has already completed all of his own work is sent down into the world again, not for his own sake, but in order to help the people of his generation.
Hisabrus of a ruach alone: and sometimes the soul does not descend in its entirety. Only the ruach of the tzaddik comes down and becomes vested in a beinoni who is toiling and working hard, who longs to have a genuine feeling - and the Holy One clothes this ruach within him, and he receives it as a gift.
But this gift is conditional and remains so: just as it came through an isarusa dil'tata, an arousal from below, its continued presence depends on the person's continued work. When he stops toiling, he stops receiving; and when he keeps at his work, he keeps hold of it, and the oath is truly fulfilled in him.
On this the Alter Rebbe brings the verse "כדכתיב שמחו צדיקים בה'" ("as it is written: rejoice, tzaddikim, in Hashem"), and there is a precision to notice here. In the preceding verse "tzaddik" appears in the singular, and immediately afterward "tzaddikim" appears in the plural. How did they suddenly become many? The answer is that "tzaddikim" refers both to the original tzaddik and to the beinoni who merited this infusion and thereby became something of a tzaddik himself. And through this, "ותתקיים בו באמת השבועה שמשביעים תהי צדיק" ("and the oath that is administered, 'be a tzaddik,' is truly fulfilled in him").
In summary: every soul, before it descends into the world, is made to swear "be a tzaddik." And although not every person is capable of actually being a tzaddik, this oath can be fulfilled in stages:
Practicing the tzaddik's feelings: a tzaddik he will not be, but a person must train himself in the feelings of a tzaddik, who genuinely finds evil repulsive. Through daily practice, every time he sees something forbidden or a food that is nothing but superfluous craving, he trains himself to find it repulsive. And even if at this stage these are only "imaginings" and the thing is not truly repulsive to him, by doing this he is fulfilling the oath "be a tzaddik" to the extent that is possible for him.
Habit becomes second nature: little by little he can advance to a further stage, in which the habit becomes second nature, and a genuinely new nature of revulsion at evil takes hold in him.
Isarusa dil'eila: and after all the toil - "all this, and perhaps" - a spirit will be poured upon him from on high, and a level of ruach from the root of some tzaddik will become vested in him, to serve Hashem with true joy.
In the next part we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words in chapter 14 and with the further explanation of the avodah of the beinoni.