In the previous section we studied the lengthy introduction in which the Alter Rebbe clarifies the correct definitions of the terms 'tzaddik' and 'beinoni'. From here we move into the heart of the explanation: the essence of the soul that comes from the side of kelipah and sitra achra, and the evil elements rooted within it.
We have reached the final portion of chapter 1. In the second half of the chapter, after the Alter Rebbe has gone at length in his introduction to prove from various sources that the definitions of 'tzaddik' and 'beinoni' need clarifying, he opens with the words "אך ביאור העניין" ("but the explanation of the matter"), and begins by establishing that every Jew has two souls. He brings a proof for this from a verse, and immediately gives them the name that will accompany us throughout the Tanya and throughout all of chassidus: "שתי נפשות" ("two souls").
Why 'nefesh' and not 'yetzer':
In the Gemara, in the Rambam, and even in the Tanya itself, we find the term 'yetzer': yetzer tov and yetzer hara. So too in the Torah: "יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו" ("the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth"). Yet in most places in chassidus the term used is 'nefesh', soul. 'Yetzer' comes from the word tziyur, a form or image, that is, one particular point or contour within the soul. 'Nefesh', by contrast, teaches us that the negative side, and all the more so the positive, holy side, is not merely a faculty, a form or a single point, but an entire soul: a complete system of powers and middos, a whole world unto itself. The word 'nefesh' is incomparably broader and deeper, and it deserves that weight. This is why the Alter Rebbe stresses at the outset that these are two complete souls.
And since we are speaking of a soul, we need to know what it is made of. In the previous section we examined the first of the two, the soul that comes from the side of kelipah and sitra achra, and we looked closely at the wording "והיא המתלבשת בדם האדם להחיות הגוף" ("and it is clothed in the blood of a person to give life to the body"). The Alter Rebbe is hinting here at the sense of ego, of self-existence and independence as something detached from Torah, a feeling whose source is this soul that comes from kelipah.
"And from it come all the evil middos":
This soul has another expression beyond being clothed in a person's blood: every evil middah in a person originates in it. The evil middos are many, varied, and of very different kinds, yet the Alter Rebbe teaches that all of them can be traced back to four yesodos, four elements.
All of creation is built from four elements: fire, air, water and earth. Everything in the world is composed of them, and what makes one object different from another is the manner of the combination and the proportions: how much of this element and how much of that. That is how the millions of species and substances in creation come about. And here is the novel point: it is not only the physical world that is composed of four elements, but the spiritual world as well, containing those very same elements in a spiritual sense, corresponding to and resembling the physical elements we know.
It follows that the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul, is likewise composed of four elements, and all of its evil middos come from them. The elements themselves can be good, evil, or neutral, all depending on the context; and since we are dealing here with the soul that comes from kelipah and sitra achra, its elements are evil elements. The G-dly soul we will learn in chapter 2, in its proper order.
The element of fire: anger and arrogance:
The Alter Rebbe spells it out: "דהיינו כעס וגאווה מיסוד האש" ("namely, anger and arrogance from the element of fire"). The element of fire within the animal soul gives rise to the middos bound up with it, and two examples among them are anger and arrogance. He explains the resemblance to fire in two words: "שנגבה למעלה" ("which rises upward"). It is the nature of fire always to rise: light a match or a flame and the fire climbs upward. The reason is that everything is drawn to its source and root, and the source of fire lies beneath the sphere of the moon, so fire is drawn upward. The same is true of spiritual fire, the quality of fire in the nature of the animal soul: it rises upward.
Where do we see this rising upward in anger? At the moment of anger a person's heart lifts itself up and swells, in a negative way, to be sure, but it is that same characteristic of raising oneself upward. (It is worth noting that genuine anger is forbidden; halachah explains that at times one may display anger, but only outwardly, never with inner anger.) With arrogance the point is obvious, since the entire concept of gaavah is that a person lifts himself up and exalts himself. Some compare anger and arrogance to fire specifically because of fire's boiling heat, but the Alter Rebbe does not mention boiling here at all; he explicitly compares the upward rising of fire to anger and arrogance.
The element of water: the craving for pleasures:
"ותאוות התענוגים מיסוד המים" ("and the craving for pleasures from the element of water"). A person craves to take pleasure in all sorts of things: in food, in drink, in music. That recurring craving to enjoy, and the appetite that his animal nature gives him for it, has its source in the element of water. Why? Because water is what causes every pleasure to grow. The pleasures of this world, in the language of the verse about the Tree of Knowledge, "נחמד למראה וטוב למאכל" ("pleasant to the sight and good for food"), grow from water. Physical water grows the objects of pleasure, and correspondingly the evil element of water in the animal soul grows the craving for them.
The element of air: frivolity, scoffing, boasting and idle talk:
Although each of the elements exists in a positive form as well, we are dealing now with the four evil elements. From the element of air the Alter Rebbe lists four things: "והוללות וליצנות והתפארות ודברים בטלים מיסוד הרוח" ("and frivolity, scoffing, boasting and idle talk from the element of air"). The attraction to these is a middah that is not good, and its source is the element of air, ruach. The connection is straightforward: as people say, "he is just making wind", meaning there is no substance to the thing at all.
What is the difference between the craving for pleasures and these middos?
With the craving for pleasures, while a person is enjoying himself, his animal nature feels that there is something real here. One has to explain to him and convince him that this is a negative thing with nothing to it, that it ends in dust and worms, with all the explanations that have been given on this, but at the moment of the craving and the enjoyment itself he feels substance. With frivolity, scoffing and idle talk, by contrast, even while he is in the middle of it, immersed in it, he himself feels that there is nothing there, that it is empty and worthless. He is taking pleasure in something that he himself senses is mere wind: nothing to hold on to and no meaning at all.
To summarize: In this section we learned why chassidus uses the term 'nefesh' rather than 'yetzer', to teach us that we are dealing with a complete soul, an entire world of powers and middos, and not merely a point or a single form. We saw that all the evil middos of the nefesh habahamis come from four elements, fire, air, water and earth, which exist in the physical world and in the spiritual world alike. We covered three of them: from the element of fire come anger and arrogance, whose nature is to rise upward; from the element of water comes the craving for pleasures, since water is what grows every pleasure; and from the element of air come frivolity, scoffing, boasting and idle talk, which have no substance to them whatsoever.
In the next section we will continue with the detailed listing of the middos that flow from the elements of the animal soul, and complete the picture of how the four evil elements operate within a person's soul.