In the previous lesson we began chapter 15, with its four categories drawn from the verse: a tzaddik, a rasha, one who serves G-d, and one who has not served Him. We dwelt at length on the point that although at first glance it looks as though "one who serves G-d" is simply another name for the tzaddik, and "one who has not served Him" another name for the rasha, that is not the case at all. The Alter Rebbe explains that the first pair, tzaddik and rasha, is indeed what we already know, but "served Him" and "has not served Him" are not synonyms for them. They are two levels within the beinoni, the intermediate person: there is a beinoni who is called "served Him," and a beinoni who is called "has not served Him."
We have already noted the difference between them. When a beinoni is called "has not served Him," heaven forbid that this means he does not keep mitzvos. On the contrary, he keeps everything, for if he had failed in even one thing he could no longer be called a beinoni but a rasha; he is certainly careful in every detail. Why, then, is he called "has not served Him"? Because everything he does comes out of habit, out of his first nature or his second nature, as we will see inside.
Let us read the words of the Alter Rebbe (page 40, seven lines from the bottom of the page):
"ובבינוני יש ג"כ ב' מדרגות: עובד אלקים, ואשר לא עבדו" (in the beinoni too there are two levels: one who serves G-d, and one who has not served Him). That beinoni called "has not served Him" is, heaven forbid, no rasha. "ואעפ"כ אינו רשע כי לא עבר מימיו שום עבירה קלה" (and nevertheless he is not a rasha, for he has never in his life transgressed even a light sin). Had he transgressed even a light sin, he could no longer be called a beinoni. "וגם קיים כל המצוות שאפשר לו לקיימן" (and he has also fulfilled every mitzvah that it was possible for him to fulfill). He is therefore complete in "turn away from evil" and complete in "do good." "ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם" (and Torah study, which is equal to them all): even the mitzvah that outweighs all the mitzvos he fulfills, "ולא פסיק פומיה מגירסא" (and his mouth does not cease from study), his mouth does not stop learning Torah for even a moment. So when we call him "has not served Him," we do not mean that he wastes his time. He learns, he keeps mitzvos, he does not lose a single moment, and even so he is called "has not served Him."
"אלא שאינו עושה שום מלחמה עם היצר לנצחו על ידי אור ה' המאיר על נפש האלקית שבמוח השליט על הלב, כנ"ל" (except that he wages no war at all with the yetzer, to defeat it by means of the light of G-d shining upon the divine soul in the brain that rules the heart, as explained above). In chapter 13 we learned at length about the levels within the beinoni, including the beinoni who needs siyata diShmaya, heavenly assistance, at every moment to give him the strength to overcome cravings and temptations. This Jew before us fails in no temptation whatsoever, and yet he cannot be called "one who serves G-d," because he is not fighting his yetzer with heavenly assistance. He is not fighting at all.
And why does he not fight? Not because he is a tzaddik, for the tzaddik does not fight since he no longer has a yetzer hara at all. Rather, "מפני שאין יצרו עומד לנגדו כלל לבטלו מתורתו ועבודתו, ואין צריך ללחום עמו כלל" (because his yetzer does not stand against him at all to pull him away from his Torah and his service, and he has no need to battle it at all). What sort of person is this? One to whom these things come by way of his own nature:
Diligence in learning: "כגון שהוא מתמיד בלמודו בטבעו מתולדתו, על ידי תגבורת המרה השחורה" (for instance, he is diligent in his learning by his nature, from birth, through the dominance of the black bile). The nature of black bile is a nature of contraction. Such a person loves to sit always with a sefer and learn, and he has no urge to run about, to enjoy himself, to stroll, to joke and waste his time. Does he deserve praise for his diligence? There is no overcoming here at all. That is his character and that is how he was born.
Desire for women: "וכן אין לו מלחמה מתאות נשים, מפני שהוא מצונן בטבעו" (and likewise he has no battle with the desire for women, because he is cold by nature). His temperament is indifferent; nothing stirs him, nothing excites him, and so this is simply not the arena in which he has to struggle. We cannot call him a complete tzaddik: the matter does not speak to him, not because he labored over himself with the kind of hisbonenus that brings a person to a recognition that leaves the temptation powerless (as we learned in the previous chapter), but because he is a person who is indifferent by nature.
The other pleasures of this world: "וכן בשאר תענוגי עולם הזה הוא מחוסר הרגש הנאה בטבעו" (and likewise with the other pleasures of this world, he naturally lacks any sense of enjoyment in them). He is not drawn after indulgent foods. And there are those who are careless in their conduct and their dress, not out of self-affliction or any lofty level, but simply because that is their nature.
Fear of heaven: "ולכן אין צריך להתבונן כל כך בגדולת ה' להוליד מבינתו רוח דעת ויראת ה' במוחו, להשמר שלא לעבור על מצות לא תעשה" (and therefore he does not need to contemplate the greatness of G-d very much in order to give birth, out of his understanding, to a spirit of knowledge and fear of G-d in his mind, so as to guard himself from transgressing a prohibition). He does not need hisbonenus, contemplation of G-d's greatness, in order not to stumble in a prohibition, whereas for others this is a long and demanding avodah, as Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to his students: "Would that it were so."
[With the tzaddik this is not the case. He was not born a tzaddik; he was born with the potential to become a tzaddik, and he labored and labored until he drew out all of that potential and reached his level. Everything depended on his avodah. And it is worth stressing another point: one who is born with a nature of black bile is not thereby complete in everything. Only in that particular area where the thing comes to him naturally, such as diligence in learning, is he called "has not served Him."]
The Rebbe Rayatz, the previous Rebbe, calls this in his sichos "natural frumkeit," natural piety. There are people born with a character that inclines them in this direction all on its own, and they deserve no praise for it. And the same is true in the opposite direction: there is a person born with a nature of white bile, a person who is happy by nature. You will see him on Simchas Torah dancing with the Torah scroll in joy and delight, but this is a natural joy. That is how he was born.
If so, how does such a Jew become "one who serves G-d"? Every person must look precisely for the place that is hard for him, and there do his avodah. One who is diligent in learning by nature should add in the place where nature runs out, and learn more than his habit carries him. And likewise, one should not wait for Simchas Torah in order to serve G-d, but serve Him in his learning and in the ordinary order of his day as well. We will see more of this further on, and we should not get ahead of ourselves.
"ואהבת ה' בלבו" (and the love of G-d in his heart): even the hisbonenus that arouses the love of G-d in his heart, "לדבקה בו בקיום המצות ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולן" (to cleave to Him through the fulfillment of the mitzvos and Torah study, which is equal to them all), he does not need. As we learned at the beginning of the Tanya, fear of heaven drives the observance of the prohibitions, while love drives the fulfillment of the positive mitzvos. This Jew, however, needs no hisbonenus to arouse either fear or love, "אלא די לו באהבה מסותרת אשר בלב כללות ישראל שנקראו 'אוהבי שמו'" (rather the hidden love in the heart of all of Israel, who are called "those who love His Name," is enough for him).
Every Jew has a love for G-d, a hidden love, an ahava mesuteres. And the word "mesuteres," hidden, carries two meanings. There is a negative meaning: the love is concealed and one does not feel it. And there is a positive meaning: it is so deep, lodged in the innermost depths of the soul, in its most hidden part, that nothing can damage it and it is always whole. With G-d's help we will reach chapter 18 and dwell on this at length.
In summary: in this section we learned that "has not served Him" is a full beinoni who is in no way a rasha. He has never transgressed even a light sin, he has fulfilled every mitzvah it was possible for him to fulfill, and his mouth does not cease from study. And nevertheless he is not called "one who serves," because he wages no war at all with his yetzer. His diligence in learning, his distance from cravings and his indifference to the pleasures of this world all come to him from the side of his nature: black bile, a cold temperament, or a natural lack of any sense of pleasure, and not from avodah and overcoming. He does not even need the hisbonenus that gives birth to fear and love; the hidden love in the heart of all of Israel, who are called "those who love His Name," is enough for him.
In the next section we will continue and explain who is called "one who serves G-d," and in what way his avodah differs from that of the beinoni who has not served Him.