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Chapter 14
Now the level of the beinoni (the in-between person) is the level of every person, and every person should draw himself after it, for every person can be a beinoni at every time and every hour. For the beinoni does not loathe the evil, and that is a matter given over to the heart, and not all times are equal. Rather, “Turn aside from what is bad, and do what is good.” That is, in actual practice, in deed, speech, and thought, for in them are the choice and the ability, and permission is given to every person to do and to speak and to think even what is against the craving of his heart, and its very opposite. For even at a time when the heart covets and craves some bodily craving, in the permitted or in the forbidden, God spare us, he can gain strength and turn his mind away from it completely, by saying to his heart: I do not want to be a rasha (a wicked person) even for one hour, for I do not want to be separated and parted, God spare us, from the one Hashem (God), in any way, as it is written (Isaiah 59:2): “your wrongs… they separate”, and so on. Only, I want to cling to Him, my nefesh (the lowest level of the soul), my ruach, and my neshamah, by their clothing themselves in His three garments, blessed be He, which are deed, speech, and thought in Hashem and His Torah and His mitzvot, each a mitzvah (a commanded deed), out of the concealed love in my heart for Hashem, as in the heart of the whole of Israel, who are called “lovers of Your name” (Psalms 5:12). And even the lightest of the light can hand over his nefesh for the holiness of Hashem, and I am surely not lower than he. Only a spirit of folly has entered him, and it seems to him that with this transgression he is still in his Jewishness, and his neshamah is not parted from the Elohim of Israel. And he also forgets his love for Hashem that is concealed in his heart. But I do not want to be a fool like him, to deny the truth.
It is not so with a matter given over to the heart, that is, that the evil should be actually loathsome in the heart, and hated with the fullest hatred. This cannot be in truth, in its real truth, except by the greatness and the force of the love for Hashem, in the aspect of a love in delights, to take delight in Hashem, in a likeness of the world to come. And of this the sages of blessed memory said (Berakhot 17a): “May you see your world in your lifetime”, and so on. And not every person attains this, for this is like a kind of receiving of reward, and as it is written (Numbers 18:7): “A gifted service I give your priesthood”, and so on, as is explained in another place.
Therefore Job said (Bava Batra 16a): “You created tzaddikim (a righteous person)”, and so on. And as it is found in the Tikkunim (Tikkunei Zohar 1b), that in the souls of Israel there are several kinds of levels and aspects: pious ones, mighty ones who overpower their yetzer (the urge), masters of Torah, prophets, and so on, tzaddikim, and so on. See there.
And with this the doubled wording of the oath will be understood: “Be a tzaddik, and do not be a rasha.” For at first sight it is puzzling. Since they put him under an oath, “Be a tzaddik”, why do they need to put him under an oath further, that he should not be a rasha? Only because not every person attains to be a tzaddik, and a person does not have the right of choice in this to such a degree, to take delight in Hashem in truth, and that the evil should be actually loathsome in truth. Therefore they put him under an oath a second time: do not be a rasha, at any rate. For in this, the right of choice, and the permission given, belong to every person, to rule the spirit of the craving in his heart and to conquer his yetzer, so that he will not be a rasha even one hour all his days, whether in the aspect of turning aside from what is bad, or in the aspect of doing what is good. And there is no good except Torah (Berakhot 5a), that is, Torah study, which equals all of them.
But even so, he also needs to fix times for himself, to set counsel in his nefesh so as to come to loathe the evil. For example, by the counsel of our sages, of blessed memory (Shabbat 152a): a woman is a skin bottle full of filth, and so on, and things of this kind. And so all kinds of tasty dishes and dainties become, in this way, a skin bottle full, and so on. And so all the pleasures of this world: the wise man sees what will come to be from them, that their end is to rot and to become a worm and a refuse heap. And the opposite, to take delight and to rejoice in Hashem by looking deeply into the greatness of Ein Sof (the Endless), blessed be He, according to his ability. Even though he knows in his nefesh that he will not reach this level in truth, in its real truth, except in imaginings, even so he will do his own part, to fulfill the oath under which they put him, “Be a tzaddik”, and Hashem will do what is good in His eyes. And further, habit holds rule over every thing, and it becomes a second nature. And when he makes it his habit to loathe the evil, it will be a little loathsome in truth. And when he makes it his habit to gladden his nefesh in Hashem by looking deeply into the greatness of Hashem, then, with an awakening from below, there is an awakening from above. And with all this, perhaps a spirit from on high will be poured upon him, and he will merit an aspect of a spirit from the root of some tzaddik, which will be implanted in him, to serve Hashem in true joy, as it is written (Psalms 97:12): “Be glad, tzaddikim, in Hashem.” And the oath under which they put him will be fulfilled in him in truth, “Be a tzaddik.”
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