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Chapter 13
And with this, the wording of the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Berakhot 61b) will be understood: beinonim (the in-between person), this one and that one judge him [Meaning: the good yetzer (the urge) and the bad yetzer], as it is written (Psalms 109:31): “For He will stand at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the judges of his nefesh (the lowest level of the soul).” And they did not say, this one and that one rule, God spare us. For when the bad yetzer has any rule and dominion in the small city, even for a short hour, he is called a rasha (a wicked person) at that hour. Rather, the bad yetzer is only, by way of a comparison, like a judge and a decider who states his opinion in the case, and even so it can be that the decided law will not be so in practice, because there is another judge and decider who disagrees with him, and one must decide between them, and the law follows the words of the one who decides. So the bad yetzer states his opinion in the left chamber of the heart, and from the heart it rises to the brain to muse on it, and at once the second judge disagrees with him, and that is the nefesh elokit (the soul from God) in the brain, which spreads into the right chamber of the heart, the dwelling place of the good yetzer. And the law follows the words of the one who decides, and that is the Holy One, blessed be He, who helps the good yetzer, as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Kiddushin 30b): “Were the Holy One, blessed be He, not helping him, he could not overcome it.” And the help is the shining with which the light of Hashem (God) shines upon the nefesh elokit, so that it has an advantage and rule over the folly of the fool and the bad yetzer, like the advantage of the light over the darkness, as mentioned above.
But since the evil in the left chamber in the beinoni is in its full force, as in its nature from birth, to crave a craving for all the pleasures of this world, and it has not been made null in its small amount before the good, and it has not been pushed from its place at all, only it has no rule and dominion to spread into the limbs of the body, because the Holy One, blessed be He, stands at the right hand of the needy one and helps and shines to the nefesh elokit, therefore he is called like a rasha, as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Niddah 30b): “Even if the whole world, all of it, says to you, You are a tzaddik (a righteous person), be in your own eyes like a rasha.” And not an actual rasha, but that he should hold himself to be a beinoni, and not believe the world that says that the evil in him has been made null before the good, for that is the level of a tzaddik. Rather, he should be in his own eyes as if the essence and the core of the evil is in its force and in its might in the left chamber, as in its nature from birth, and nothing at all has passed and gone from him. On the contrary, it has grown stronger with the passing of time, in which he has used it much, in eating and drinking and the other matters of this world.
And even one whose desire is in the Torah of Hashem, and who murmurs in it day and night for its own sake, this is no proof at all that the evil has been pushed from its place. Rather, it can be that its essence and its core is in its force and in its might in its place, in the left chamber, only that its garments, which are thought, speech, and deed of the nefesh bahamit (the life-soul of the body), do not clothe themselves in the brain and the mouth and the hands and the rest of the limbs of the body, because of Hashem, who gave rule and dominion to the brain over the heart. And therefore the nefesh elokit in the brain rules in the small city, all the limbs of the body, so that they will be a garment and a chariot for its three garments, which will clothe themselves in them, which are thought, speech, and deed of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah, each a mitzvah (a commanded deed). But the essence and the core of the nefesh elokit has no rule and dominion over the essence and the core of the nefesh bahamit in the beinoni, except at an hour when the love of Hashem is in a revealed state in his heart, at set times, such as at the time of prayer and the like. And even this time is only rule and dominion alone, as it is written (Genesis 25:23): “And one people shall grow mighty over the other people”, when this one rises, that one falls, and when this one rises, and so on (Megillah 6a). For the nefesh elokit exerts itself and gains strength over the nefesh bahamit, in the source of the severities, which is understanding, to look deeply into the greatness of Hashem, Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, and to bring forth a fierce love for Hashem, like the sparks of a flame, in the right chamber of his heart. And then the sitra achra (the other side) in the left chamber is subdued. But it is not made completely null in the beinoni, only in the tzaddik, of whom it is said (Psalms 109:22; Berakhot 61b): “and my heart is a hollow space within me”, and he loathes the evil and hates it with the fullest hatred and loathing, or not with the fullest hatred, as mentioned above. But in the beinoni it is, by way of a comparison, like a person who is asleep, who can return and wake from his sleep. So the evil in the beinoni is like one asleep in the left chamber at the time of the reading of the Shema and of prayer, when his heart burns with the love of Hashem, and afterward it can be that it returns and wakes.
Therefore Rabbah would hold himself as a beinoni, even though his mouth did not cease from the text of his study, and his desire was in the Torah of Hashem day and night, with eagerness and strong desire and longing, and a nefesh yearning for Hashem, in a great love, as at the time of the reading of the Shema and of prayer. And he seemed in his own eyes like a beinoni who prays all day long. And as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Berakhot 21a): Would that a person prayed the whole day.
Now this measure of love spoken of in the beinonim at the time of prayer, by the nefesh elokit gaining strength, and so on, relative to the level of the tzaddikim who serve Hashem in truth, in its real truth, this aspect of love is not called by the name of a service of truth at all, since it passes and goes away after the prayer. And it is written (Proverbs 12:19): “A lip of truth will stand firm forever, but a tongue of falsehood only for a moment.” Even so, relative to the level of the beinonim it is called a perfect service, in truth, in the real truth that is theirs, each person according to his level in the level of the beinonim. And I also call their love in their prayer, “A lip of truth will stand firm forever”, since it is in the power of their nefesh elokit to return and to awaken this aspect of love always, in its gaining strength at the time of prayer, day by day, by the preparation fitting for each nefesh according to its measure and its level.
For the trait of truth is the trait of Jacob, who is called the middle bar, which runs across from end to end, from the peak of the ranks and the levels to the end of all the rungs. And in every rank and level it runs through the middle point, which is the point and the aspect of its trait of truth. And the trait of truth is an inheritance without borders, and it has no measure above, up to the peak of the ranks. And all the ranks and levels below are as nothing beside the ranks and levels above them. [As is known to those who know hidden wisdom, that the aspect of the head and the minds of lower levels is below the aspect of the heels and the feet of levels higher than they, and as the saying of the sages of blessed memory (Chagigah 13a): “The feet of the living creatures are level with all of them.”]
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