HUMANITY’S FIVE CATEGORIES
There are five types of individuals within mankind, three holy and two sinful: a tzaddik gamur (complete tzaddik), a tzaddik she-eino gamur (incomplete tzaddik), a beinoni (who is drawn equally to God and sin), a rasha she-eino gamur (someone who is mostly wicked), and a rasha gamur (completely wicked).
The tzaddik gamur, “complete tzaddik,” lacks an evil inclination. The part of the personality that is usually expressed as a drive for physical urges and evil behaviors has been transformed,84As King David said, libbi chalal be-kirbi, “My Heart is empty within me” (Ps. 109:22). David was saying that he had successfully emptied the stone part of his heart. The desire for sin, that is unfeeling of the spiritual, is referred to in the Talmud as the stone heart. and it now only seeks virtue.
Tzaddikim called malachim, “angels,” belong to this group because the tzaddik gamur is as dedicated as an angel. Celestial beings do not have an urge to violate God’s commands. A tzaddik gamur also has no urge for sin. In the final prophetic work, Malachi wrote, sifsei cohen yishmeru da’as ve-Torah yevakshu mi-pihu ki malach Hashem Tzevakos hu, “The lips of the priest preserve wisdom, and Torah is sought from his mouth, for he is an angel [malach] of God, the Lord of Hosts” (Mal. 2:7). Literally, malach means “messenger.” We are all God’s messengers, sent to accomplish the mission of living a life with God, observing His commandments, learning His Torah, and thus sanctifying His world.85See further Sfas Emes to Parashas Shelach (5631). Unfortunately, we too often ignore our calling. A true tzaddik lives with a constant awareness of mission, and as a result, Malachi named him a malach, a constant Messenger.86R. Tzadok Ha-Cohen of Lublin, Sichas Malachei Ha-Shareis, pg. 5.
The second individual is a tzaddik she-eino gamur, an “incomplete tzaddik,” who is primarily attracted to morality. He also possesses a weak drive for evil and sin. His desire for the holy is supreme and he consistently chooses virtue. Within his heart the advocate for holiness is loudest so it is said to rule over the evil inclination. Such an individual is also called tzaddik ve-ra lo, a tzaddik who suffers, literally “a tzaddik whom evil is his.”87A tzaddik might suffer if his essence is not fully pure; there is still some evil that he harbors within. He has some ra, “evil,” but lo, it is “his,” since he controls it.
The third individual is a beinoni, a middle of the road type, who is drawn equally to the ungodly and the Heavenly yet never follows the call of evil. Externally, he is perfect for all his deeds are Mitzvos. Internally, this man’s body is a battleground with two forces, one angelic the other demonic, wrestling for supremacy. With the help of God and his own efforts, he always acts with virtue.88According to the Tanya, the beinoni never allows the evil urge to fully conquer his actions, speech, or thought. Man possesses a core deeper than conscious thought. In this subconscious realm, the beinoni possesses a seething volcano of material desires. This volcanic urge is equal to the inner advocate of holiness (Tanya, Chapter 12). According to the Tanya, the primary way to succeed in this struggle is by means of love for God. In his system, true love of God can only emerge from intellectual inquiry in the mind. Think about the greatness of God, consider how relative to God nothing exists, realize that God is the source for your life. These meditations will give birth to love of God (Tanya, Chapter 13). The Tanya also describes other methods by which one can become a beinoni. R. Tzadok Ha-Cohen explains that virtue can succeed to gain the upper hand, by means of shame in the presence of God. Internalize an awareness of constantly standing before the Infinite (Sichas Malachei Ha-Shareis, pg. 7-8). This attitude causes one to be ashamed of sin and a devotee of the internal voice for Mitzvah. While he may succeed in overcoming lowliness, he is constantly aware that the physical within is a sleeping giant, primed to arise with virulent intensity. The task of the beinoni is to remain vigilant and avoid complacency. He is called oveid Hashem, “The one who works for God,” and not eved Hashem, “The Servant of God,” since he is in the throes of a struggle and has not fully achieved spiritual heights in a permanent manner.89Tanya, Chapter 15.
Then there are two types of resha’im, “evil-doers.” The first is a rasha ve- tov lo, a sinner who has enhanced his lust for physical pleasures due to sins he has committed. Materialism is more enticing for him than the moral, but he maintains a residual advocate for holiness. As with the beinoni, his inner life is a combat area with two armies battling over the small city (his body). Most of his deeds and desires are sinful, yet the good advocate inevitably resurfaces for a moment and causes regret for the misdeed, and his life is filled with guilt. This class contains most of mankind.90Tanya, Chapter 11.
The final individual is the rasha ve-ra lo, also called a rasha gamur, “complete rasha.” This is the polar opposite of a tzaddik gamur; he is all bad with no desire to perform good deeds.91Tanya, end of Chapter 11. Hitler, may his name be obliterated, was part of this class. He had no regrets or contrition for his misdeeds. Apparently, he obliterated his inner advocate for good. The ancient Pharaoh of Egypt was also such a villain; as a result of his many decisions to adopt evil behaviors, God punished him with forfeiture of his innate advocate for the holy; essentially he lost the ability for good.92Maimonides, “Laws of Return,” 6:3. Now it may be understood why Rabbah called himself a beinoni.
Rabbah constantly performed Mitzvos yet he claimed that his essential core, his desires, still needed refinement. Abaye argued that Rabbah’s remarkable achievements indicated a magnificent internal state and Rabbah had little or no desire for evil, making him either a tzaddik gamur or a tzaddik she-eino gamur.
Ramifications of the Different Levels of Virtue
Every Jew can reach the level of beinoni, since God has given man free choice. While our physical nature pulls us to laziness, haughtiness, anger, and desire we can overcome these vices. We personally may not reach a point where we emotionally abhor evil, but we can reach a level of perfection in speech, thought, and deed.93Tanya, Chapter 14.
Consideration of the meaning of the beinoni concept can serve as a source of succor and support. We should never feel guilty about harboring desires for evil or lusts after temptation. We may have been created with the potential of a beinoni and do not have an innate ability to reach the level of a tzaddik, who is not even attracted to misdeed. Man’s purpose is to provide pleasure to the Divine through living a life of Torah. God may not want of us to be a tzaddik. He might desire that we serve Him as a beinoni in the context of battle. This service may be even more beloved to Him than the service of a tzaddik for it entails effort.
It is important for all to study the characteristics and nature of a tzaddik since there are moments when a beinoni can temporarily become a tzaddik, such as when overcome with love towards God. If we think about the awesome size of the universe, when we focus and repeatedly meditate about the wisdom of the microscopic creations and how they were all created for our enjoyment, a passionate love of the Creator will fill our heart. At the height of passion, we may reach the level of tzaddik. The material is repulsive, God’s infinite love and generosity fill us with a burning passion to come close to Him, to cleave to Him and feel Him in every fiber of our being.
Tzaddik-hood is also relevant due to ibbur neshamah, “soul impreg- nation,” which happened to Pinchas. According to the Zohar, Pinchas was impregnated with the souls of Nadav and Avihu94Zohar, Parashas Pinchas, pg. 213b. See also the writings of the Ari, Sha’ar Ha-Gilgulim, Hakdamah 32, that Pinchas really had four different souls within him: he was born with one soul, then he received the soul of Nadav and Avihu, later on he received the soul of Eliyahu Ha-Tishbi, and the soul of Elijah from Benjamin. as a reward for his bravery that saved the Jewish nation. The Torah, therefore, describes him as “Pinchas son of Elazar, son of the priest Aaron.” The seemingly misplaced comma after the word Elazar indicates that Pinchas was the son of Elazar by virtue of his own soul and also the son of Aaron the High Priest due to the souls of Nadav and Avihu (Aaron’s sons who had died earlier) that had entered his body.95Another example of ibbur neshamah is found in the writings of the Me’or Enayim (Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky of Chernobyl, 1730-1797). The Me’or Enayim explained that the reason why there is a powerful urge to share good news is ibbur neshamah. At the moment when one brings good tidings, the soul of Elijah the prophet, the Mevasser Tov, the person who will bring the news of the ultimate redemption, enters into one’s soul.
Using this principle one can understand why Serach bas Asher was counted as two individuals in the count of the members of Jacob’s family that went down to Egypt (see Bereishis Rabbah, Parashas Vayigash 94:9). Since she brought the good news of Joseph’s survival to Jacob, she had two souls, her own and the soul of Elijah, so she was counted twice. Perhaps it was this soul of Elijah within her that caused her to enter Heaven alive, as Elijah did. (The Targum Yonasan, Parashas Vayigash, writes that Serach entered Heaven while still alive.)
Serach’s added soul teaches an important lesson about exile. Exile is not a permanent state. At the onset of Jewish subjugation a member of the community harbored the soul of Elijah, the harbinger of redemption. Thus the light of redemption started to glow with the beginning of exile to comfort the Jews and inform them that their salvation was already set in place, and it only had to be revealed. The full spelling of the letters of Serach’s name is sin, yud, nun, then resh, yud, shin, then ches, yud, tav, which has the gematria 1288, same as the phrase, Yittaka be-shofar gadol u-vau ha-ovdim, “[On that day the ultimate redemption] will be heralded through a great shofar and the lost ones will come [to God’s home in Jerusalem]” (Isa. 27:13). This correlation further indicates that Serach had the soul of Elijah who, like the great shofar, sounds the call of the ultimate return to Israel (Emunas Etecha, Parashas Vayigash, 5756).
The Talmud’s lesson96Niddah 30b. about the pre-natal oath is understandable in light of the different spiritual levels of the tzaddik, beinoni, and rasha. The commitment of the young soul to be a tzaddik is to strive towards the internal wholeness of the tzaddik gamur. “Even if the entire world calls you a tzaddik, view yourself as a rasha” means that one should never assume that they have reached the level of tzaddik. Even when every act, feeling, and thought, is pure, see yourself as a beinoni, with lusts and desires as virulent as those of a rasha, and this way you see yourself as if you were evil but not actually a rasha. This perspective will ensure that you do not grow complacent or arrogant, while allowing you to maintain a healthy self-esteem. To discover the route to fulfillment of the pre-natal oath we must study the Godly and physical souls within man.