In the previous section we studied permitted foods eaten for the sake of indulgence, and forbidden foods. Now we will look at just how serious this matter is as it emerges from the words of our Sages, at the meaning of chibut hakever (the "beating of the grave"), and at the path the Alter Rebbe sets out for a person to eat and drink without becoming defiled by the pleasure of this world.
"לא יאונה לצדיק כל אוון" - "No wrong befalls a tzaddik":
So it says in Mishlei. The Gemara relates the story of Rabbi Chanina ben Gamliel, who, because of conduct that was not proper (he imposed excessive fear within his household), was mistakenly fed something forbidden. The Gemara immediately asks: "They fed him?" How is such a thing possible? Tosafos explain there: since the verse says "no wrong befalls a tzaddik," it is not possible for a tzaddik to eat forbidden food. A tzaddik may stumble in this or that matter, but not in food, because food immediately becomes blood and flesh of his flesh, an actual part of him. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, does not let him stumble in this, even when he has no way of knowing.
From here a person must know that every food immediately becomes part of him. And that raises the question: how does one cleanse this? For that, the body needs chibut hakever.
Chibut hakever:
This page of Tanya is just about the only place where punishments are discussed. In the teachings of chassidus it is rare to deal with chibut hakever, with kaf hakela and with Gehinnom; these are not expressions you find in the style of chassidic maamarim, because you do not bring a Jew close to Torah and mitzvos through fear of punishment, and that is not the right approach. The Alter Rebbe brings these severe expressions here for one purpose only: to convey how serious indulgence is, both in the three impure kelipos and in kelipas nogah, when the eating is done for the sake of the craving itself.
What exactly does chibut hakever do to a person's body after a hundred and twenty years? It is what its name says: a beating, and its purpose is to cleanse and purify the body of the impurity it absorbed through the pleasures and delights of this world. During a person's lifetime the body enjoyed the world's pleasures and became defiled, and that impurity is removed from it through chibut hakever. We are speaking of the impurity of kelipas nogah and of the "Jewish demons" that were in him, not of those demons that come from forbidden foods, which are more severe than permitted foods eaten out of craving. Those the Alter Rebbe will address in the lines that follow.
Can a person be spared chibut hakever?
The well known saying that the Rebbe quotes: whoever wants to cleanse himself during his lifetime should devote a sixth of the day (the twenty four hours divided into six parts) to saying the letters of Torah, Tehillim and the like, and this cleansing will exempt him from chibut hakever.
Those who pass away on the eve of Shabbos: it is written that they do not undergo chibut hakever, but this is not something a person can arrange for himself.
One who never derived pleasure from this world all his days: this is the only case in which a person has no connection whatsoever to chibut hakever, since his body is pure and clean and never took pleasure in this world. About this the Alter Rebbe writes: "like Rabbeinu Hakadosh."
Who is "Rabbeinu Hakadosh"?
The Alter Rebbe is not simply telling us a piece of history about a man who took no pleasure from this world. He is teaching those who learn Tanya whom to emulate, and how. Every person can take some point from his conduct, on one level or another.
Reading these lines, one might imagine that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi lived in a miserable hut, barely had anything to eat or drink, and suffered torments all his life. But that is not the reality at all, as the Gemara relates.
The Gemara in Avodah Zarah tells us (and Rashi brings it on the Chumash as well) that when Rivkah was carrying twins and did not understand what was happening within her, she went and inquired, and she was told, "two nations (goyim) are in your womb." The Sages expound: do not read "goyim" but "ge'im," the proud ones, and these are Antoninus and Rebbi. Antoninus was the emperor of Rome, and Rebbi is Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: two extremes that came from the descendants of Yaakov and Eisav, and "ge'im" is an expression of greatness.
And what was their greatness? The Gemara says that "lettuce, cucumbers and radishes never ceased from their tables, neither in the summer season nor in the rainy season." These were choice and very expensive foods in those days, which only the very wealthy could allow themselves, and even when they were hard to come by and cost a fortune, these men's tables had them in abundance. So Rebbi was no ascetic; all good things were available to him.
True, Tosafos write that Rebbi himself did not eat from them, but rather that he was a great host, with many who "ate at his table," and he made sure that nothing was lacking for any of those who sat with him. But this explanation cannot be taken at face value, and the proof comes from another passage in the Gemara.
The Gemara in Kesubos relates that before his passing Rebbi raised his ten fingers upward and said: "Master of the world, it is revealed and known before You that I toiled with my ten fingers in Torah and I derived no pleasure," and Rashi adds: "I derived no pleasure from this world even with my little finger."
Now look closely at the wording. Had Rebbi not been eating those choice foods, there would have been no reason to say "it is revealed and known before You," since that phrase indicates that the matter is revealed to Him alone. If everyone could see that Rebbi set a lavish table, provided abundantly for others, and barely touched the food in front of him, that would have been revealed and known to anyone familiar with his conduct. From the fact that he needed to raise his ten fingers and declare "it is revealed and known before You that I derived no pleasure," it is clear that everyone around him assumed that he did derive pleasure. In other words, in practice he ate the choicest foods, and even so he took no pleasure in them.
From here the Alter Rebbe teaches us: a person who takes no pleasure in this world does not mean a person who lives a life of misery. He may well eat tasty food, only he eats it purely for the sake of Heaven.
The precision of the phrase "like Rabbeinu Hakadosh":
This is why the Alter Rebbe is precise and does not write "like Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi." "HaNasi" carries the sense of the exalted one, and had he used that title, the student would picture before him a holy, lofty figure whom he could never resemble. By writing "Rabbeinu," our Rebbe, he is telling us that this man teaches us and we are his students, and a student can emulate his teacher's ways and walk in his paths according to the personal example he left behind.
From this emerges the path of a Jew who does not want to come to chibut hakever, or more precisely, who wants to live as is asked of him. He eats and drinks, of course only permitted foods, since with forbidden foods, as we learned, there is no possibility whatsoever of elevating them; and what is permitted he eats for the sake of Heaven, with the inner intention that this is what the Holy One, blessed be He, wants of him, or because this is the Shabbos meal, as was explained in the previous chapter. About such a person one can say that at that moment he is not deriving pleasure.
"ועל דברים בטלים" - "And concerning idle talk":
Having dealt with permitted and forbidden foods and with forbidden relations, the Alter Rebbe now moves, from here to the end of the chapter, to another area of daily life: the world of speech. This too must be done in the right way. Sometimes speech belongs to the three impure kelipos, and sometimes it remains within kelipas nogah. And just as a person who ate food of the most meticulous kashrus, yet did not eat it for the sake of Heaven, needs to cleanse his body from what became attached to it, so too with speech: even if the speech itself is not forbidden, since it is not holy it attaches a certain impurity to the body, and one has to look for ways to be rid of it.
Note the wording: "ועל דברים בטלים" ("and concerning idle talk"). We are speaking of a person who speaks idle words in a manner that is permitted to him. Who is permitted and who is not? Where is there any permission at all to speak idle words? To this the Alter Rebbe answers: "כגון עם הארץ שאינו יכול ללמוד" ("such as an unlearned person who is unable to learn"), one who has no ability to learn at all, who does not understand a thing.
This line too requires explanation. The Rebbe raises a difficulty with it and leaves it with a tzorich iyun, since it is stated explicitly in the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch that an unlearned person who cannot learn should read the words of Torah even without understanding, for that too is Torah, and should say Tehillim. In any case, here the Alter Rebbe writes "an unlearned person who is unable to learn."
One might have suggested that he means someone who cannot read at all. But the Alter Rebbe did not write "who does not know how to read," he wrote "who is unable to learn": there is no learning in him and no comprehension, and consequently he has no capacity to learn.
In summary: in this section we learned from the verse "no wrong befalls a tzaddik" and from the words of Tosafos that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not let a tzaddik stumble with food, because food immediately becomes blood and flesh of his flesh. We looked at chibut hakever, which cleanses the body of the impurity it absorbed through the pleasure of this world, and at the fact that the Alter Rebbe mentions punishments at all (something rare in the teachings of chassidus) only in order to convey the seriousness of indulgence. We saw the ways to be spared from it, first among them the conduct of Rabbeinu Hakadosh, who ate the choicest of foods and took no pleasure in them whatsoever, and the precision of the word "Rabbeinu": he is our Rebbe and we are his students, able to walk in his ways. Finally we began the subject of speech: "and concerning idle talk," and the permission stated regarding "an unlearned person who is unable to learn."
In the next section we will continue and go deeper into the matter of idle talk, the permission stated regarding the unlearned person, and the practical implications that follow from it.