Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidism, opens his masterwork the Tanya with a contradiction. The Talmud in Tractate Niddah says that before birth, every soul is given an oath: "Be righteous and do not be wicked. And even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, regard yourself as wicked." But the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) in Avot says the exact opposite: "Do not consider yourself wicked."
Which is it? Should you see yourself as righteous or wicked?
The Tanya's answer reshapes all of Jewish psychology. There are not two types of people—righteous and wicked. There are five. A completely righteous person whose good has absorbed all evil. An incompletely righteous person who has subdued evil but not eliminated it. A completely wicked person ruled by desire. An incompletely wicked person who sins but still has good impulses. And then the fifth category, the one Rabbi Schneur Zalman calls the benoni (בינוני)—the "intermediate person."
The benoni is the hero of the Tanya. This is the person who has never committed a sin in action, speech, or even sustained thought—but who still feels the full force of the evil inclination raging inside. The benoni does not experience inner peace. The war never ends. The dark urges never disappear. The benoni simply wins every battle, every single time, without ever winning the war.
Rabbah, one of the greatest Talmudic sages, once declared: "I am a benoni." His student Abbaye immediately objected: "Master, if you are merely a benoni, you make it impossible for anyone else to live." If even Rabbah—whose righteousness was legendary—was only intermediate, what hope is there for ordinary people?
The Tanya's answer: the benoni is not a lesser category. It is the realistic, achievable spiritual life. The tzaddik (a righteous person) transforms evil into good. The benoni does something arguably harder—he contains evil within himself forever, fighting it every day, and never lets it win.
It has been taught [Niddah, end ch. 3]: An oath is administered to him [before birth, warning him]: “Be righteous and be not wicked; and even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, in your own eyes regard yourself as if you were wicked.”1 Niddah 30b. The “oath” is also explained in terms of a delegation of power to the soul so that it be able to fulfill its destiny in life on earth. Cf. Kitzurim V’Hearot L’Sefer Likkutei Amarim, ed. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (Kehot, 1948; 1989), pp. 66f. This requires to be understood, for it contradicts the Mishnaic dictum [Avot, ch. 2], “And be not wicked in your own estimation.”2 Avot 2:13. Furthermore, if a man considers himself to be wicked he will be grieved at heart and depressed, and he will not be able to serve G–d joyfully and with a contented heart; while if he is not perturbed by this [self-appraisal], it may lead him to irreverence, G–d forbid.3 The apparent contradiction between the two sources is explained in ch. 13. The meaning of both the Baraita and Mishnah is expounded in chs. 13, 14, 29, and 34. However, the matter [will be understood after a preliminary discussion]. We find in the Gemara4 Berachot 7a; cf. Rosh Hashanah 16b. five distinct types—a righteous man who prospers, a righteous man who suffers, a wicked man who prospers, a wicked man who suffers, and a benoni (an intermediate person).5 The author borrows this term for the alternative name of his work, Sefer shel Benonim, but he uses the term in a different sense. It is there explained that the “righteous man who prospers” is the perfect tzaddik; the “righteous man who suffers” is the imperfect tzaddik. In Raaya Mehemna, Parashat Mishpatim6 Zohar II:117b. it is explained that the “righteous man who suffers” is one whose evil nature is subservient to his good nature,7 This is a play on the words rendered literally “the evil (belongs) to him,” i.e., he is master of the evil nature in him. and so on. In the Gemara, end of ch. 9 of Berachot,8 Berachot 61b. it is stated that the righteous are judged by their good nature…and the wicked by their evil nature, while the intermediate are judged by both, and so on.9 Cf. beg. ch. 9. Rabbah declared, “I, for example, am a benoni.” Said Abbaye to him, “Master, you do not make it possible for anyone to live,” and so on.10 Since there was none greater than Rabbah, it would mean that there was not even one tzaddik in the world, and all who are of lesser stature than Rabbah would be placed in the Book of the Wicked to be condemned to immediate death (Rosh Hashanah 16b). To understand all the aforesaid clearly an explanation is needed, as also to understand what Job said [Bava Batra, ch. 1], “Master of the universe, You have created righteous men and You have created wicked men…,”11 Bava Batra 16a. for it is not preordained whether a man will be righteous or wicked.12 Niddah 16b. The answer to this question will be found in ch. 14. It is also necessary to understand the essential nature of the rank of the benoni. Surely that cannot mean one whose deeds are half virtuous and half sinful, for if this were so, how could Rabbah err in classifying himself as a benoni? For it is known that he never ceased studying [the Torah], so much so that the Angel of Death could not overpower him;13 Cf. Bava Metzia 86a. how, then, could he err to have half of his deeds sinful, G–d forbid? Furthermore, [at what stage can a person be considered a benoni if] when a man commits sins he is deemed completely wicked [but when he repents afterward he is deemed completely righteous]? Even he who violates a minor prohibition of the Rabbis is called wicked, as it is stated in Yevamot, ch. 2, and in Niddah, ch. 1. Moreover, even he who has the opportunity to forewarn another against sinning and does not do so is called wicked [ch. 6, Shevuot].14 Shevuot 39b. All the more so he who neglects any positive law which he is able to fulfill, for instance, whoever is able to study Torah and does not, regarding whom our Sages have quoted,15 Sanhedrin 99a. “Because he has despised the word of the L–rd…[that soul] shall be utterly cut off….”16 Numbers 15:31. It is thus plain that such a person is called wicked, more than he who violates a prohibition of the Rabbis. If this is so, we must conclude that the benoni is not guilty even of the sin of neglecting to study the Torah.17 The reiteration of the sin of neglect of Torah study is due to its prevalent nature and the difficulty of avoiding it completely (cf. end ch. 25). The author is emphasizing that the benoni is innocent even of this and certainly of transgressions more easily avoidable. Hence Rabbah could have mistaken himself for a benoni. NOTE: As far what is written in the Zohar III, p. 231: He whose sins are few is classed as a “righteous man who suffers”;18 The contradiction is in the implication that “few sins” are not inconsistent with the rank of tzaddik. this is the query of Rav Hamnuna to Elijah. But according to Elijah’s answer, ibid., the explanation of a “righteous man who suffers” is as stated in Raaya Mehemna on Parashat Mishpatim, which is given above. And the Torah has seventy facets [modes of interpretation].19 Hence the reason for Rav Hamnuna’s query. Otiot d’Rabbi Akiva: comp. Bamidbar Rabbah 14:12. And as for the general saying20 Cf. Maimonides, Hilchot Teshuvah 3:1; Rashi, Rosh Hashanah 16b. that one whose deeds and misdeeds are equally balanced is called benoni, while he whose virtues outweigh his sins is called a tzaddik, this is only the figurative use of the term in regard to reward and punishment, because he is judged according to the majority [of his acts] and he is deemed “righteous” in his verdict, since he is acquitted in law. But concerning the true definition and quality of the distinct levels and ranks, “righteous” and “intermediate,” our Sages have remarked21 Berachot 61b. that the righteous are motivated [solely] by their good nature, as it is written, “And my heart is a void within me,”22 Psalms 109:22. that is, void of an evil nature, because he [David] had slain it through fasting.23 Cf. beg. ch. 9. But whoever has not attained this degree, even though his virtues exceed his sins, cannot at all be reckoned to have ascended to the rank of the tzaddik. This is why our Sages have declared in the Midrash, “The Holy One, blessed is He, saw that the righteous were few, so He planted them in every generation…,”24 Cf. Yoma 38b. [for,] as it is written, “The tzaddik is the foundation of the world.”25 Proverbs 10:25. The explanation [of the questions raised above] is to be found in the light of what Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote in Shaar HaKedushah [and in Etz Chaim, Portal 50, ch. 2] that in every Jew, whether righteous or wicked, are two souls, as it is written,26 Hebrew text should read וכדכתיב instead of דכתיב as amended (see Luach HaTikkun), because the Biblical text is here only loosely interpreted, for the word “souls” refers to the collective noun, not to two souls. “The neshamot (souls) which I have made,”27 Isaiah 57:16. [alluding to] two souls. There is one soul which originates in the kelipah and sitra achara, [and] which is clothed in the blood of a human being, giving life to the body, as is written, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”28 Leviticus 17:11. From it stem all the evil characteristics deriving from the four evil elements which are contained in it. These are: anger and pride, which emanate from the element of Fire, the nature of which is to rise upward; the appetite for pleasures—from the element of Water, for water makes to grow all kinds of enjoyment; frivolity and scoffing, boasting and idle talk from the element of Air; and sloth and melancholy—from the element of Earth. From this soul stems also the good characteristics which are to be found in the innate nature of all Israel, such as mercy and benevolence. For in the case of Israel, this soul of the kelipah is derived from kelipat nogah, which also contains good, as it originates in the esoteric “tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.”29 Cf. Zohar I:12b. The souls of the nations of the world, however, emanate from the other, unclean kelipot which contain no good whatsoever, as is written in Etz Chaim, Portal 49, ch. 3, that all the good that the nations do is done from selfish motives. So the Gemara30 Bava Batra 10b. comments on the verse, “The kindness of the nations is sin”31 Proverbs 14:34.—that all the charity and kindness done by the nations of the world is only for their own self-glorification, and so on.
