We arrive now at the end of chapter 14, found in the Tanya on daf 20a (page 39), three lines from the bottom of the page. Let us begin with a brief review of the points we covered in the closing sections of the previous lesson, and then continue from where we left off.
In the second half of chapter 14 (even the layout of the printed Tanya makes it plain that a new section of the chapter begins here), the Alter Rebbe returns to the phrase he cited at the very opening of the sefer: every soul, before it descends into this world, is made to swear an oath, "תהי צדיק ואל תהי רשע", "Be a tzaddik and do not be a rasha."
At first glance, "Be a tzaddik" would seem to include everything. What do the words "and do not be a rasha" add? If a person fulfills the first part and becomes a tzaddik, he certainly will not be a rasha, so why bother telling him "do not be a rasha"?
The Alter Rebbe explains that this oath actually contains two parts that have nothing to do with one another:
"Do not be a rasha" means: be a beinoni, an intermediate person. For who is the beinoni? He is not a tzaddik, but neither is he a rasha. He is careful in everything, in thought, in speech and in deed, and he does not stumble in any of them. So "do not be a rasha" effectively means "be a beinoni."
"Be a tzaddik" is an entirely different matter, and that is exactly where we stopped in the previous lesson.
For we already established earlier in this chapter, on the phrase "בראת צדיקים" ("You created tzaddikim"), that a tzaddik is someone born with the potential to be a tzaddik, and someone who was not born with that potential simply cannot reach the level of a tzaddik. If so, what can it mean to command a person "Be a tzaddik" when he is altogether incapable of reaching that level? How can you push him toward something that has no connection to him at all?
The answer the Alter Rebbe gives is that a person must set aside fixed times in his soul, and during those times he should train himself in the feelings that essentially belong to a tzaddik, and acquire them: both on the side of "sur mera" (turning away from evil) and on the side of "asei tov" (doing good).
On the side of "sur mera":
As he said regarding the craving for food, all sorts of delicacies and fine dishes, and likewise regarding the craving for women: how does a person hold himself back from them? By putting into his head, again and again, a contemplation of where the thing ultimately ends up. Take food, for example: what will become of this dish an hour from now? The food that looks so attractive will end up rotting, becoming worms and refuse. So why be drawn after it? "החכם עיניו בראשו", "the wise man has his eyes in his head," and "איזהו חכם - הרואה את הנולד", "who is wise? One who sees what will be born of a thing."
When a person contemplates this over and over, and trains himself in it over a period of time, that contemplation gradually instills in him such a feeling, and that feeling in fact belongs to the world of tzaddikim. For the tzaddik possesses this feeling permanently: he looks at anything and sees its inner reality, and since he sees the true worth of worldly matters, he has no craving for them. The beinoni is not a tzaddik, yet he is told "Be a tzaddik," meaning at the very least pull yourself in that direction.
On the side of "asei tov":
In the Alter Rebbe's words: "וההפך להתענג ולשמוח בה' על ידי התבוננות בגדולת אין סוף ברוך הוא, כפי יכולתו", "and conversely, to delight and rejoice in Hashem through contemplating the greatness of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, according to his capacity." He should train himself to be constantly joyful in G-dliness, and to be moved by a matter of holiness, time after time.
True, each time he has to generate it anew. It resembles a person standing high up outside a building: it is not that he has wings and flew up there, but that scaffolding was set up, one level upon another, until he reached that height. So too a person erects "scaffolding" for himself, various supports that lift him upward, as long as he actually does it and searches out every avenue to be elevated, each person according to his own capacity. And that elevation, to whatever degree he succeeds, is on his part the fulfillment of the oath "Be a tzaddik," for he is doing, from his side, the things that a tzaddik generally does.
The Alter Rebbe immediately continues: "אף שיודע בנפשו שלא יגיע למדרגה זו באמת לאמיתו, כי אם בדמיונות", "even though he knows within himself that he will not truly and genuinely reach this level, but only in his imagination." A person knows himself and knows that he will never really be like this; remove the scaffolding and he falls right down, take away the supports and it becomes clear that he has no connection to it at all. All he is doing is constantly training himself in the thought that this is repulsive and that is holy and pure. Note the precision of the language: he does not say, G-d forbid, "false imaginings," but merely "in the imagination." Right now it seems to him that he loathes evil and loves good, it seems to him that he has already arrived there, yet it is not truly so; he has simply built around himself the atmosphere that carries him in that direction.
"אף על פי כן", says the Alter Rebbe, nevertheless, "הוא יעשה את שלו", he should do his part, fulfill what is placed upon him, "לקיים את השבועה שמשביעים תהי צדיק", to fulfill the oath with which he was adjured, "Be a tzaddik," even if on his side it remains only in the imagination, "והשם יעשה הטוב בעיניו", "and Hashem will do what is good in His eyes." If the Holy One decides to grant him a gift, and as we will see in the coming lines such a possibility exists, whether for a certain period or permanently, then he has merited it and has indeed moved to a different level. And if he does not become such a person, in any case he has done his part: he was adjured to push himself in that direction, and that is what is required of him.
That is one benefit of this training, and the Alter Rebbe adds another. Although until now we have been speaking of something that is entirely imagination, know that from all that imagining a bit of the truth will eventually cling to him. For "ועוד שההרגל על כל דבר שלטון", habit rules over everything; habit has a power that governs a person even against his will, "ונעשה טבע שני", "and it becomes a second nature."
We see this in the way the world conducts itself as well. Ambassadors stationed in the country to which they were sent are required from time to time to leave it and return to their home country; either they are recalled and not sent back, or they are given a period of time at home and then return. And what is the purpose of that? Because a person who stays too long in a distant place is liable, little by little, to forget where he came from, since he has accustomed himself: there are different manners there and different habits, and habit becomes ruler. Such is human nature, even though he knows full well that this is not his place.
Another example: a person who wants to arrive everywhere on time sometimes sets his watch a few minutes ahead, and it helps him. Seemingly, what good does it do? He himself knows that when the watch shows eight o'clock, the actual time is five to eight. And yet it affects him, even though this is a technical arrangement that he himself created. We see in practice that habit shapes a person's conduct.
Second nature, however, is not as strong as the original nature. In this connection there is the well known debate, not entirely parallel to our subject, as to whether one can instill a second nature in animals. There the Maharal of Prague (if I recall correctly) demonstrated that even when an animal is trained into a new nature, in a single moment it can be returned to its point of origin and will forget everything it was taught, for the original nature is always stronger than the second nature. Nevertheless, second nature too has real force.
Accordingly, when a person trains himself over a long period to find the pleasures of the world repulsive, and every time he sees something enticing he accustoms himself to regard it as repulsive and not good, then "וכשירגיל למאוס את הרע, יהיה נמאס קצת באמת", "and when he habituates himself to loathe evil, it will become somewhat truly loathsome to him." Earlier he said that the whole thing is imagination; here he adds that when a person engages in that imagining extensively, the matter acquires a certain genuine hold in him, and it really does work on him. Every time he sees it he will feel that he cannot even look at it, and while someone else is inflamed by the thing and loses his head over it, he will simply feel nauseated standing next to him.
In the coming lines we will see the additional possibility the Alter Rebbe raises: a gift from above, where the Holy One gives a person what he cannot attain by his own powers.