Chapter 27: Bad Thoughts, a Lifelong Battle, and Two Kinds of Delicacies

But what if the sadness does not come from worry over sins, but from bad thoughts and bad desires that come into his mind? If they come to him not during his service of G‑d, but while he is busy with his own affairs and worldly matters and the like, then on the contrary! He should be happy with his lot. For although they come into his mind, he turns his mind away from them, and so he fulfills the verse: “Do not stray after your heart and after your eyes, after which you go astray.”

The verse is not speaking of tzaddikim, calling them, G‑d forbid, people who “go astray”. It speaks of beinonim like him, into whose minds come thoughts of illicit desire, whether about something permitted or otherwise. When he turns his mind away from them, he fulfills this prohibition. And our Sages said: “One who sat and did not commit a sin is rewarded as if he had done a mitzvah.” So he should be happy at keeping this prohibition, exactly as he is happy at keeping a positive mitzvah.

On the contrary, this sadness comes from pride, because he does not know his place. That is why he is upset that he is not on the level of a tzaddik, for tzaddikim certainly do not have such foolish thoughts. But if he knew his place, that he is very far from the level of a tzaddik, and would that he were a beinoni and not a rasha for even one moment all his life, then he would see that this is exactly the way of the beinonim and their work: to conquer the [evil] impulse and the thought that rises from the heart to the mind, to turn his mind away from it completely, and to push it away with both hands, as explained above.

And with every single push by which he pushes it out of his mind, the sitra achra [the “other side”, opposed to holiness] is subdued below. And since “an arousal from below brings an arousal from above”, the sitra achra above, which raises itself high like an eagle, is subdued too. This fulfills the verse: “Though you raise yourself like the eagle … from there I will bring you down, says G‑d.”

So the Zohar (Parshas Terumah, p. 128) speaks at length of the great pleasure before Him, blessed be He, when the sitra achra is subdued below. For then the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises above all, more than through any other praise, and this ascent is greater than everything, and so on.

Therefore no one should lose heart, nor be very troubled, even if he is in this war all his days. For perhaps this is what he was created for, and this is his service: to subdue the sitra achra constantly.

About this Iyov said: “You created reshaim.” Not that they should actually be reshaim, G‑d forbid. Rather, what happens to reshaim should reach them in their thoughts and musings alone, and they should always be at war to turn their minds away from these things, in order to subdue the sitra achra. But they will not be able to abolish it completely, for that is done by tzaddikim.

For there are two kinds of pleasure before Him, blessed be He, above. One comes from abolishing the sitra achra completely, and turning it from bitter to sweet and from darkness to light, through the tzaddikim. The second comes when the sitra achra is subdued while it is still in its strength and power and raises itself like an eagle, and from there G‑d brings it down, through the arousal from below of the beinonim.

This is what the verse says: “Make me delicacies (mat’amim) such as I love.” “Delicacies” is plural: two kinds of pleasure. These are the words of the Shechinah to her children, the community of Israel, as explained in the Tikkunim. It is like physical food, by way of a mashal, where there are two kinds of delicacies. One is made of pleasant, sweet foods. The other is made of sharp or sour things that have been spiced and prepared so well that they become delicacies that revive the soul.

This is what the verse says: “G‑d made everything for His sake, even the rasha for the day of evil.” It means that he should return from his wickedness and make his evil into “day” and light above, when the sitra achra is subdued and the glory of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises above.

What is more, even in things that are completely permitted: whenever a person sacrifices his impulse even for a short while, intending to subdue the sitra achra in the left chamber [of the heart]. For example, he wants to eat, and puts off his meal for an hour or less, and studies Torah during that time. As the Gemara says: “The fourth hour is when everyone eats; the sixth hour is when Torah scholars eat.” They would go hungry for two hours with this intention, even though after the meal, too, they would study all day.

So too if he holds his mouth back from saying worldly things his heart badly wants to say. And so too with the thoughts of his mind. Even in the slightest way, when the sitra achra is subdued below, the glory and holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He, rises greatly above. And from this holiness a higher holiness is drawn down onto the person below, to help him with great and powerful help in serving Him, blessed be He.

This is what our Sages said: “If a person sanctifies himself a little below, he is sanctified greatly from above.” This is besides the fact that he fulfills the positive mitzvah of the Torah, “Sanctify yourselves, [and you will be holy],” when he sanctifies himself in what is permitted to him.

The meaning of “Sanctify yourselves” is that you should make yourselves holy. That is to say: although in truth he is not holy and separated from the sitra achra, for it is in its strength and power, as when he was born, in the left chamber, still he conquers his impulse and sanctifies himself. Then “you will be holy”, that is, in the end he will be truly holy and separated from the sitra achra, because he is sanctified greatly from above and helped to drive it out of his heart little by little.