וכמאמר רז״ל: הלואי שיתפלל אדם כל היום כלו
as, indeed, our Sages have said,10 “Would that a man pray the whole day long!”
Such a Beinoni is constantly ablaze with the love of G‑d, and consequently his desire for evil is always dormant, as explained. Therefore, the absence of any evil desires did not conclusively prove to Rabbah that he was a tzaddik; it was still possible for him to maintain that he was a Beinoni — a Beinoni “who prays all day long.”
What emerges from all that has been said is that even during prayer when the Beinoni succeeds in arousing his love of G‑d and rendering the evil dormant, his divine soul has merely prevailed over his animal soul but has not vanquished it, for which reason it is possible for this state to cease after prayer. Therefore, the Beinoni’s level of divine service is not considered truthful when compared to the service of the tzaddik. For “truth” implies continuity and consistency.
The Alter Rebbe goes on to explain that nevertheless, the Beinoni’s love — relative to his standing — is considered a true form of service.
והנה מדת אהבה זו האמורה בבינונים בשעת התפלה על ידי התגברות הנפש האלקית כו׳
Now, this aformentioned love attained by Beinonim at the time of prayer by virtue of the temporary preponderance of the divine soul over the animal soul, etc.,
הנה לגבי מדרגת הצדיקים עובדי ה׳ באמת לאמיתו, אין בחינת אהבה זו נקראת בשם עבודת אמת כלל
when compared to the standard of the tzaddikim who serve G‑d in perfect truth (“in the truest manner of truth”), [this love] is not called “true service” at all,
מאחר שחולפת ועוברת אחר התפלה
since it passes and disappears after prayer;
וכתיב: שפת אמת תכון לעד, ועד ארגיעה לשון שקר
whereas it is written,11 “The language (lit., ‘the lip’) of truth shall be established forever, but the tongue of falsehood is only momentary.”
Thus, the term “truth” refers to something immutable; the temporary and passing are not considered “true”. The same applies here as well: Since the Beinoni’s love of G‑d is felt only during prayer and disappears afterwards, it does not measure up to the “truest” sense of truth — the perfect truth attained by tzaddikim.
ואף על פי כן לגבי מדרגת הבינונים נקראת עבודה תמה באמת לאמיתו שלהם
Nevertheless, in relation to the rank of the Beinoni, [this level of love] is regarded as a truly perfect service in terms of their level of truth, i.e., the level of Beinonim,
איש איש כפי מדרגתו במדרגת הבינונים
in each man relative to his standing in the category of the Beinonim (for, as mentioned earlier, the rank of Beinoni is subdivided into many levels).
והריני קורא באהבתם שבתפלתם גם כן: שפת אמת תכון לעד
Their love, too, which they possess [only] during prayer, I term, “The language of truth [,which] shall be established for ever,” i.e., their love is true and permanent, though manifest only during prayer,
הואיל ובכח נפשם האלקית לחזור ולעורר בחינת אהבה זו לעולם, בהתגברותה בשעת התפלה מדי יום ביום
since their divine soul has the power to reawaken this love constantly, whenever it gathers strength during prayer, day after day,
על ידי הכנה הראויה לכל נפש כפי ערכה ומדרגתה
by means of the spiritual preparation appropriate to each soul’s quality and rank. The higher the level of the soul, the less preparation it requires to awaken its love of G‑d. Regardless, every soul has the capacity to arouse its love of G‑d during prayer.
The Beinoni’s love of G‑d is thus constant, since it is either in an active, revealed state, or is in potentia, and can be revealed at any moment throughout the day (for, as mentioned earlier, every Beinoni has the potential to attain the level of “praying the whole day long.”
One difficulty yet remains: How is it possible for the same level of service to be considered untrue by the standards of tzaddikim, and true with regard to Beinonim? Is truth not absolute?
This matter is now explained as follows:
The quality of truth is to be found on every level. In each, truth means the essence and core of that level; i.e., truth is defined as that which agrees with the essence of that particular level where it is measured.
Since this is so in all the myriad levels of the spiritual worlds, from the very highest to the very lowest, and since the lowest levels are incomparable to the highest, how can it be said that the lower grades possess truth? We must say, therefore, that the term “truth” is relative to the level on which it is found, that each grade has its own core of truth. Things are true if they agree with [the essence of] their own level and untrue if they do not; they need not agree with a higher level to be considered “true”.
In the Alter Rebbe’s words:
כי הנה מדת אמת היא מדתו של יעקב, הנקרא בריח התיכון המבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה
For truth is the attribute of Jacob, as the verse states:12 “You give truth to Jacob,” who is called13 “the middle bolt which secures everything from end to end,”14 just as the middle bolt in the Tabernacle secured and bolted together all the boards by passing through them all.
מרום המעלות ומדרגות עד סוף כל דרגין
In spiritual terms, this means that the attribute of truth passes from the highest gradations and levels to the end (i.e., lowest) of all grades.
ובכל מעלה ומדרגה מבריח תוך נקודה האמצעית
in each gradation and level it passes through the central point of that particular level,
שהיא נקודת ובחינת מדת אמת שלה
which is, i.e., which then becomes the point and quality (i.e., the standard) of [that level’s] attribute of truth.
Proof is now given that each grade has its own standard of truth, as it were:
ומדת אמת היא נחלה בלי מצרים, ואין לה שיעור למעלה עד רום המעלות
The attribute of truth is an unbounded inheritance; it has no upper limit [as it extends] to the highest levels,
וכל מעלות ומדרגות שלמטה הם כאין לגבי מעלות ומדרגות שלמעלה מהן
and all lower gradations and levels are as nothing compared with those superior to them.
If, then, truth is found on all levels despite their disparity, we must conclude that the standard of truth on each level is relative to the core of that level.
In support for his statement that the lower levels and grades are incomparable to the higher ones, the Alter Rebbe cites:
כידוע ליודעי ח״ן שבחינת ראש ומוחין של מדרגות תחתונות הן למטה מבחינת עקביים ורגלי מדרגות עליונות מהן
As is known to those familiar with the Esoteric Discipline (i.e., Kabbalah), the quality that is the “head and intellect” — the highest level — within lower grades, is inferior to the “soles” and “feet” — the very lowest level — within the higher grades;
וכמאמר רז״ל: רגלי החיות כנגד כולן
as our Sages say,15 “The feet of the chayyot surpass all those levels lower than them, including the highest degree within those lower levels.”)
The attribute of truth, then, is measured according to the standards of each level. We may thus conclude that the divine service of the Beinoni is considered “true” service relative to their level, although when compared with the service of tzaddikim it is not considered “true”, since it passes after prayer.
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Footnotes
1.Berachot 61b.
2.Tehillim 109:31.
3.Kiddushin 30b.
4. It was stated in the previous chapter that man’s mind innately rules his heart. Why, then, should he need special divine assistance in curbing his appetites?
The Rebbe answers:
This divine assistance is necessary whenever the conflict between the two souls does not involve a struggle of mind vs. heart; e.g., (1) when the divine soul wishes to prevent sinful thoughts from arising in the mind, or (2) when the emotive faculties of the divine soul seek to overpower those of the animal soul (without recourse to contemplation and meditation).
But now the question may be reversed: Why in ch. 12 does the Alter Rebbe use the argument of the mind’s natural supremacy over the heart to point out the divine soul’s supremacy over the animal soul?
To this the Rebbe answers: In ch. 12, the Alter Rebbe speaks of the state of the Beinoni after prayer, when the effect of his meditation on G‑dliness during prayer still lingers in his mind. At such time his mind is suffused with G‑dliness to the point where the animal soul cannot so much as voice an opinion there. Thus, any struggle between the souls at that time would be a case of mind vs. heart, where the natural supremacy of the mind could confer victory on the divine soul.
5.Avot 2:13.
6.Bereishit 25:23.
7.Based on a note by the Rebbe. The Rebbe explains thereby why the Alter Rebbe quotes only half of the second phrase — “When this one (referring to the divine soul) rises, that one (the animal soul) falls; and when that one (the animal soul) rises…” — without concluding the part of the quotation that deals with the divine soul. The Alter Rebbe’s purpose in quoting the second phrase is to show that the animal soul could rise once again, though it had “fallen” during prayer. The rest of the phrase is thus irrelevant here.
8.Tehillim 109:22.
9. The word חלל has two meanings: “void”, and “slain”. The Rebbe points out that the Alter Rebbe understands the חלל of this verse to mean “void”. This may be inferred from ch. 1, where he interprets the verse as meaning that “he (David HaMelech) had no Yetzer Hara.” The Alter Rebbe continues there: “for he had slain it through fasting,” only as added explanation (not in order to interpret the word חלל) — to indicate that David had not attained the level of Avraham Avinu, who had transformed his Yetzer Hara (as stated in Talmud Yerushalmi, end of Berachot ch. 9; David had merely slain it. In the case of Avraham Avinu, his heart was indeed not void, but in fact this was his virtue: his heart still housed the Yetzer Hara, but that Yetzer Hara had undergone such a metamorphosis that is was now a Yetzer Tov.
From Rashi’s commentary on Berachot, however, and also from the plain sense of the Yerushalmi, it appears that the meaning of חלל is “slain”. The commentaries on this verse in Tehillim cite both interpretations.
10.Berachot 21a.
11.Mishlei 12:19.
12.Micah 7:20.
13.Zohar I, p. 1b; p. 224a.
14.Paraphrase of Shmot 26:28.
15.Chagigah 13a.
