This means that one must crush the sitra achra and cast it to the ground by setting aside appointed times for humbling oneself and considering himself4 “despicable and contemptible,” as it is written.

ולב נשבר רוח נשברה היא הסטרא אחרא, שהיא היא האדם עצמו בבינונים

Now5 “A broken heart [leads to] a broken spirit,” the “spirit” being the sitra achra which, in the case of Beinonim, is the very man himself.

שנפש החיונית המחיה הגוף היא בתקפה כתולדתה בלבו, נמצא היא היא האדם עצמו

For in his heart the vital soul which animates the body is in its full strength as it was at birth; hence it is indeed the very man himself.

ועל נפש האלקית שבו, נאמר: נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא, שנתת בי דייקא, מכלל שהאדם עצמו איננו הנשמה הטהורה, כי אם בצדיקים

With regard to the divine soul within him it is said: 6 “The soul which You gave within me is pure.” The word “(within) me” cannot be understood as referring to the body alone: the body cannot speak for itself as a complete man. Thus, it must refer also to the (animating) soul. Therefore, the words “(which You gave) within me” imply that the man himself who is saying these words is not identified with the “pure soul”; i.e., the divine soul is a thing apart, which has been “placed within” this “me” — the body and animal soul — except in the case of tzaddikim.

שבהם הוא להפך: שנשמה הטהורה שהיא נפש האלקית הוא האדם, וגופם נקרא בשר אדם

With them the contrary is true: the man himself is the “pure soul,” i.e, the divine soul, while their body is called “the flesh of man” i.e., secondary to the man himself — the divine soul.

וכמאמר הלל הזקן לתלמידיו, כשהיה הולך לאכול היה אומר שהוא הולך לגמול חסד עם העלובה ועניה, הוא גופו, כי כמו זר נחשב אצלו, ולכן אמר שהוא גומל חסד עמו במה שמאכילו, כי הוא עצמו אינו רק נפש האלקית לבד, כי היא לבדה מחיה גופו ובשרו, שהרע שהיה בנפש החיונית המלובשת בדמו ובשרו נתהפך לטוב, ונכלל בקדושת נפש האלקית ממש בצדיקים

It was in this sense that Hillel the Elder would say to his disciples when he went to eat that he was going to do a favor to the7 “lowly and poor creature,” meaning his body. He regarded his body as a foreign thing, and therefore used this expression — that he was doing it a favor by giving it food. For he himself was nothing other than the divine soul. It alone animated his body and flesh, inasmuch as in tzaddikim the evil that was in the vital soul pervading their blood and flesh has been transformed into good and completely absorbed into the holiness of the divine soul, and thus, the divine soul is the man himself.

אבל בבינוני, מאחר שמהותה ועצמותה של נפש החיונית הבהמית שמסטרא אחרא המלובשת בדמו ובשרו לא נהפך לטוב, הרי היא היא האדם עצמו

With a Beinoni, however, since the substance and essence of the vitalizing, animal soul (stemming from the sitra achra) which pervades his blood and flesh has not been transformed into good, it indeed constitutes the man himself, and therefore, by crushing his own spirit the Beinoni actually crushes the sitra achra.

The Alter Rebbe now proceeds to suggest various lines of reasoning that the Beinoni may use in order to humble and crush his spirit — and thereby the sitra achra of his animal soul. The first of these follows from the point just concluded, that the personality of the Beinoni is, in fact, an expression of the sitra achra — the animal soul.

ואם כן הוא רחוק מה׳ בתכלית הריחוק, שהרי כח המתאוה שבנפשו הבהמית יכול גם כן להתאוות לדברים האסורים, שהם נגד רצונו יתברך

If so, that he is actually the animal soul, he is removed from G‑d with the utmost remoteness. For the lusting drive in his animal soul is capable of lusting also after forbidden things, which are contrary to G‑d’s Will.

אף שאינו מתאוה לעשותם בפועל ממש, חס ושלום, רק שאינם מאוסים אצלו באמת כבצדיקים, כמו שכתוב לעיל פרק י״ב

While he does not desire to do them (these forbidden things) in actual practice, G‑d forbid, yet they are not truly repulsive to him, as they are to tzaddikim, as explained above (in ch. 12).

There the Alter Rebbe explains that after his prayers, when the love of G‑d is no longer revealed in his heart, a Beinoni can feel a craving for material pleasures, whether they be permitted or forbidden — except that in the case of forbidden matters, he does not actually wish to implement his desires in forbidden actions; they remain instead in the category of “sinful thoughts.”

ובזה הוא גרוע ומשוקץ ומתועב יותר מבעלי חיים הטמאים ושקצים ורמשים, כנ״ל

In this he is inferior to and more loathsome and abominable than unclean animals and insects and reptiles, as mentioned above — for even they do not transgress against G‑d’s Will (see ch. 24), and since he does do so (in his mind, at least) he is worse than they;

וכמו שכתוב: ואנכי תולעת ולא איש וגו׳

and as it is written: 8 “But I am a worm, and not a man…”

As a human being who chooses to lower himself to the level of a worm, I am worse than a worm, for it is a worm by creation rather than by choice.

But what of the times when the divine soul of the Beinoni dominates him, such as during prayer, when he experiences a revealed love of G‑d and there is no room in his heart for any mundane desires? To this the Alter Rebbe answers:

וגם כשמתגברת בו נפשו האלקית לעורר האהבה לה׳ בשעת התפלה, אינה באמת לאמיתו לגמרי, מאחר שחולפת ועוברת אחר התפלה כנ״ל, סוף פרק י״ג

(9Even when his divine soul gathers strength within him to arouse his love of G‑d during prayer, this predominance of the divine soul is not altogether genuine, since it is transient and vanishes after prayer, as mentioned earlier, end of ch. 13.)

The Alter Rebbe explains there that only that which is permanent and unchanging can be described as “true”. Relative to the rank of Beinoni, this arousal of the divine soul during prayer may be considered “truthful”, since the Beinoni is capable of generating it always — whenever he prays. It cannot, however, be described as “absolutely truthful” (emet la‘amito) since it is not constant, occurring only during prayer.

ובפרט כשיזכור טומאת נפשו בחטאת נעורים, והפגם שעשה בעליונים, ושם הוא למעלה מהזמן, וכאלו פגם ונטמא היום, חס ושלום, ממש

Especially so, if he calls to mind the contamination of his soul with the sin of youth, and the blemish he has wrought thereby in the supernal worlds —the source of his soul. The fact that they were sins of “youth”, belonging to a time and to a spiritual level from which he may presently be far removed, is irrelevant in these supernal worlds — where everything is timeless, and it is as if he had caused the blemish and defiled himself this very day, G‑d forbid.