Previous: Part 1, Chapter 11. Book contents. Next: Part 1, Chapter 13.
Chapter 12
And the beinoni (the in-between person) is one in whom the evil never gains such strength as to conquer the small city, to clothe itself in the body and make him sin. That is, the three garments of the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body), which are thought, speech, and deed from the side of the kelipah (a husk that hides holiness), do not gain strength in him over the nefesh elokit (the soul from God), to clothe themselves in the body, in the brain and in the mouth and in the rest of the 248 limbs, to make them sin and to defile them, God spare us. Only the three garments of the nefesh elokit, they alone, clothe themselves in the body. They are thought, speech, and deed of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, each a mitzvah (a commanded deed). And he has not committed a transgression in all his days, and he will never commit one, and the name rasha (a wicked person) is not called upon him even for one hour and one moment, all his days.
But the essence and the core of the nefesh elokit, which are its ten aspects, do not have the kingship and the dominion in the small city for themselves alone, except at set times, such as at the time of the reading of the Shema and of prayer, which is a time of minds of greatness above, and below too it is a fit time for every person. For then he binds his wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to Hashem (God), to press his mind deep into the greatness of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, and to awaken the love like the sparks of a flame in the right chamber of his heart, to cling to Him in the fulfillment of the Torah and its mitzvot out of love. For this is the matter set out in the reading of the Shema, which is from the Torah. And its blessings before it and after it, which are from the rabbis, are a preparation for the fulfillment of the reading of the Shema, as is explained in another place. And then the evil in the left chamber is bent and null before the good that spreads in the right chamber from the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in the brain, which are bound to the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He.
But after the prayer, with the departure of the minds of the greatness of Ein Sof, blessed be He, the evil returns and wakes in the left chamber, and craves a craving for the cravings of this world and its pleasures. Only, because the right of kingship and dominion in the city is not his alone, he cannot bring his craving out from power into act, to clothe himself in the limbs of the body in actual deed, speech, and thought, to sink his thought into the pleasures of this world, how to fill the craving of his heart. For the brain rules the heart [as it is written in the Zohar, portion Pinchas] by his nature from birth and the nature of his formation. For the human being was formed this way in his nature from birth, that every person is able, by the will in his brain, to hold himself back and to rule the spirit of his craving that is in his heart, so as not to fill the requests of his heart in deed, speech, and thought, and to turn his mind completely away from the craving of his heart, to the complete opposite, and especially to the side of holiness. As it is written (Ecclesiastes 2:13): “And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of the light over the darkness.” The meaning is: just as the light has an advantage, and rule, and dominion over the darkness, in that a little bodily light pushes away much of the darkness, which is pushed back from it on its own and of itself, so much folly of the kelipah and the sitra achra (the other side) in the left chamber is pushed back of itself, as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Sotah 3a): “…unless a spirit of folly has entered him”, and so on], because of the wisdom in the nefesh elokit in the brain, whose will is to rule alone in the city and to clothe itself in its three garments mentioned above, in the whole body, all of it, as mentioned above, which are thought, speech, and deed of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, as mentioned above.
Even so, he is not called a tzaddik (a righteous person) at all, because this advantage, which the light of the nefesh elokit has over the darkness and the folly of the kelipah that is pushed back of itself, is only in the three garments mentioned above, and not in its essence and its core over the essence and the core of the kelipah. For the essence and the core of the nefesh bahamit from the kelipah in the left chamber is not pushed out of its place at all in the beinoni after the prayer, when there are no sparks of fire of the love of Hashem in a revealed state in his heart, in the right chamber, but only his inside is inlaid with a concealed love, which is the natural love in the nefesh elokit, as will be explained further on. And then the folly of the evil fool can be in a revealed state in his heart, in the left chamber, to crave a craving for all the bodily matters of this world, whether in the permitted or in the forbidden, God spare us, as if he had not prayed at all. Only, in a forbidden matter, it does not rise in his mind to do the forbidden thing in actual act, God spare us. But musings of a transgression, which are harder than a transgression, can take effect, to rise to his brain and to confuse him from Torah and from service, and as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Bava Batra 164b): three transgressions, no person is spared them every day, a musing of a transgression and looking into the prayer, and so on. Only, against this, the imprint in the minds avails, and the awe of Hashem and the love of Him, concealed in the right chamber, to gain strength and to rule over this evil that craves a craving, so that it should have no rule and no dominion in the city, to bring its craving out from power into act, to clothe itself in the limbs of the body. And even in the brain alone, to muse on evil, it has no rule and no dominion to muse, God spare us, by the will in his brain, so that he would accept willingly, God spare us, this evil musing that rises on its own from the heart to the brain, as mentioned above. Rather, the moment it rises there, he pushes it away with both hands, and he turns his mind aside at once when he remembers that it is an evil musing, and he does not accept it willingly, even to muse on it willingly, and all the more so to raise it in his mind to do it, God spare us, or even to speak of it. For one who muses willingly is called a rasha at that hour, and the beinoni is not a rasha even for one hour, ever.
And so too in matters between a person and his fellow. The moment there rises in him, from the heart to the brain, some grudge and hatred, God spare us, or some envy, or anger, or touchiness, and the like, he does not accept them at all in his brain and in his will. On the contrary, the brain rules and governs the spirit in his heart, to do the very opposite, to conduct himself with his fellow in the trait of kindness and in a surpassing fondness made known to him, to bear from him up to the last limit, and not to be angry, God spare us. And also not to repay him according to his deed, God spare us, but on the contrary to grant good things to the guilty, as it is written in the Zohar (Zohar, part 1, 201a and onward), to learn from Joseph with his brothers.
Previous: Part 1, Chapter 11. Book contents. Next: Part 1, Chapter 13.
