In the previous section we worked out the definition of a rasha v'tov lo ("a wicked man who has good in him"), and we saw that the definition is not fixed by the deed actually done, but by a person's inner state. In this section we will sharpen that test, look at the very bottom end of the level of rasha v'tov lo, and clarify the borderline that separates him from the beinoni.
The test: where a person stands right now, not knowledge of the future
The question is not whether we can know that a person will sin in the future. Such knowledge is simply impossible, since even a complete tzaddik has not been stripped of free choice, and he could sin if he chose to. The question is how a person feels about himself right now: does he feel that this thing is no longer his at all, that he has cut himself off from it, or does he feel that he has not yet fully broken away from it?
This test applies to every sin, not specifically to lashon hara, which was brought only as an example. There are transgressions that a person is close to and could easily stumble in, and there are transgressions that are utterly ruled out for him. So too in the comparison between eating pork and speaking lashon hara: it is entirely possible for one and the same person to be completely beyond one of them, and at that very moment to be a rasha v'tov lo with respect to the other.
This does not mean that we know for certain he will never stumble in that matter; it may be that tomorrow a ruach shtus (a spirit of folly) will come over him and he will do it. It means only that at this moment his inner state is such that the thing is ruled out for him, while in the other matter he is still a rasha v'tov lo. So this is a dynamic, shifting definition: at any given moment a person can move from rasha v'ra lo to rasha v'tov lo, and from there to the level of beinoni, and back again. The work of the soul is constant work.
It also varies from person to person. What is no temptation at all for one man is the greatest temptation for his friend, each according to his nature, his habits and his surroundings. Someone who has firmly taken upon himself not to eat forbidden foods finds it easy and is not tested in it at all; yet in another area, such as lashon hara, he may stumble with no effort. It changes from person to person, from time to time, from one environment to another and from one state of mind to the next, and in every situation a person is able to examine where he stands.
Something similar was explained by Rav Eliyahu Dessler on the verse "u'vechol me'odecha" ("with all your might"): with whatever is a person's "me'od", that is, the thing that is very much his own and is very hard for him. It is worth noting that large portions of his sefer Michtav MeEliyahu are built on the Tanya, and although he gives no source references, whole passages there are the words of the Alter Rebbe.
The bottom end of rasha v'tov lo
Now the Alter Rebbe describes the very lowest end of this level: "ויש מי שהרע גובר בו יותר" ("and there is one in whom the evil prevails more"). The evil overpowers him more often, and it clothes itself in him in all three garments: he stumbles in thought, in speech and in deed. More than that, the evil "מחטיאו" ("causes him to sin") in graver transgressions and far more frequently: not in the dust of lashon hara but in actual lashon hara, and not in light transgressions but in severe ones.
If so, why is he still called a rasha v'tov lo? What good is left in him? The answer is that in between, between one sin and the next, he regrets what he has done and takes stock of himself, and thoughts of teshuvah come to him from the aspect of good in his soul, which gains a little strength in him.
Where do those thoughts of teshuvah come from? We are taught that every single day a bas kol (a heavenly voice) goes out from Mount Chorev and proclaims: "אוי להם לבריות מעלבונה של תורה" ("woe to the creatures for the insult to the Torah"). Seemingly, who hears that voice? The answer is that every single person hears it, not at every moment and not every day, but from time to time a person is suddenly aroused: his soul heard the bas kol and received an inner push from it, and from there comes the thought of teshuvah that stirs in him for a moment.
But a thought is not enough. The mashpia Reb Mendel Futerfas used to say, building on the words of our Sages that thoughts of sin are worse than the sin itself, that thoughts of teshuvah are worse than thoughts of sin. With a thought of sin, at least in the end the person did not actually fail in deed; but one in whose heart a thought of teshuvah has already fallen, who has reached the point of recognizing how serious his deeds are, and even so did not actually do teshuvah, there is a heavy claim against him.
And that is exactly his situation: "אלא שאין לו התגברות כל כך לנצח את הרע לפרוש מחטאיו לגמרי" ("except that he does not have enough strength to overcome the evil and to separate himself from his sins completely"). He does not have the strength, the courage and the firmness to say to himself: I failed, and from now on I am leaving this and I will not go back to it. His conscience is stirred, and with that the matter ends; immediately afterward he returns to the next sin, his conscience stirs again, and so it goes round and round. He never arrives at "מודה ועוזב" ("confessing and forsaking"), and therefore he is called a rasha v'tov lo, since all the good in him is his thoughts of teshuvah.
The distance between this rasha v'tov lo at the bottom end and the rasha v'tov lo at the top end, that man who did teshuvah over his one light failure and does not actually stumble, except that the thing is not ruled out for him and he is merely capable of it, is an enormous distance. Both are included in that one and the same definition, and between the two extremes there are tens of thousands of gradations. The Alter Rebbe presented only the two extremes, and it is for each person to locate himself somewhere in between.
"Wicked men are full of regrets"
Regarding this our Sages said: "רשעים מלאים חרטות" ("the wicked are full of regrets"). Seemingly, if they are full of regrets, why are they called wicked? Because they only regret; they do not translate the regret into actually abandoning the sin. And who are these wicked men who are full of regrets? "שהם רוב הרשעים" ("who are the majority of the wicked"). Most of the wicked do regret in their hearts, even though no one knows it, because "יש בחינת טוב בנפשם עדיין" ("there is still an aspect of good in their soul").
And indeed, you will almost never find a person who has no point of conscience at all that bothers him, and that is the regret. True, it is possible for a person to be so used to a particular sin that he no longer regrets it in the least, but over a different, graver sin, one he commits only rarely, he does feel regret. To find a person whom nothing at all touches and who never regrets anything is a rare thing. If he does not regret ninety percent of his sins, he will regret ten percent of them. And one who has no regret whatsoever is not a rasha v'tov lo but a rasha v'ra lo. With this the chapter concludes.
The distinction between a rasha v'tov lo and a beinoni
Let us sharpen the principle that has emerged: a person who belongs to the evil, whether he actually belongs to it in practice or whether he merely feels that he is capable of entering into it, even if he did not actually sin but the thing is on the tip of his tongue and only at the last moment does he stop himself, is a rasha v'tov lo and not a beinoni. As long as a person is capable of it, and stands in a state where only a hair's breadth separates him from failure, that is not the level of beinoni.
The beinoni is one who has worked on his heart until the question of doing it does not arise for him at all, and the thing is ruled out for him. There is no need to elaborate here on the definition of the beinoni, since an entire chapter will be devoted to him.
A question needs to be asked: all the figures brought in this chapter actually sinned, and even the one of whom it is said that he "שב בתשובה ראויה" ("repented with a fitting teshuvah") first committed a transgression and only afterward did teshuvah. Does this mean that a person who sinned once and did teshuvah can never again be a beinoni?
According to the definition we have learned, that is indeed so. True, after his teshuvah he no longer sins, and the Alter Rebbe does not say that he fell again but only that he did teshuvah and nothing more, yet even so he does not leave the definition of rasha v'tov lo, because the thing is not ruled out for him. The very existence of the potential to stumble again is what keeps him within this definition; and the moment the thing becomes completely ruled out for him, he becomes a beinoni.
In summary: in this section we learned that the test of a person's level is not knowledge of the future but how he feels about himself right now, whether he has cut himself off from the sin or whether it is still not ruled out for him, and that this varies from transgression to transgression, from person to person and from one state of mind to another. We looked at the bottom end of rasha v'tov lo, in whom the evil prevails in all three garments and in grave and frequent transgressions, and yet thoughts of teshuvah remain in him from the aspect of good in his soul, except that he lacks the strength to defeat the evil and to be "מודה ועוזב" ("one who confesses and forsakes"). We saw the words of our Sages, "רשעים מלאים חרטות" ("the wicked are full of regrets"), who are the majority of the wicked, in whom there is still an aspect of good in their soul, as opposed to one who has no regret at all, who is a rasha v'ra lo. Finally we sharpened the borderline: as long as the sin is not ruled out for a person, even if he has done teshuvah, he is a rasha v'tov lo.
In the next section we will take up chapter 12, where we will learn the definition of the level of beinoni and when a person becomes a beinoni.