The Essence of a Person

(1) We learned [in Niddah, end of chapter 3 (30b)]: "An oath is issued to him, be righteous, and be not wicked, and even if everyone in the world tells you 'you're righteous," view yourself as (someone who's) wicked.'" But one has to understand this. For have we not learned, "Do not consider yourself wicked."! What's more, if one will be wicked in his own eyes he will feel embittered and depressed, and he will be unable to serve G-d with joyful and a glad heart. And (even) if he will not be grieved by this at all, this could lead to frivolity, G-d forbid!

(2) So the matter is as follows: We find in the Talmud five different types of people. A righteous person [tzaddik] who has good, a righteous person [tzaddik] who has evil; a wicked person [rasha] who has good, a wicked person [rasha] who has evil; and a intermediate person [beinoni].

(3) And the sages explained in the Talmud, that the 'righteous person who has good' is the perfectly righteous person [or the perfect tzaddik]; the 'righteous person who has evil' is a person who is righteous but not completely [or the imperfect tzaddik]. And in Raya Mehemna he explains, that [in the description of] 'a righteous person who has evil' [not that there is something evil about him, rather] - that any evil within him is completely mastered by his goodness, etc.

(4) And in the Talmud: "The righteous [tzaddik] are judged by their good inclination etc., the wicked [rasha] are judged by their evil inclination, while the intermediate person [beinoni] is judged by both inclinations etc. Said Raba, 'For example, I am an intermediate person [beinoni].' Said Abaye to him, 'Our master has left no life for any creature.'"

(5) So to understand all of this clearly. and also to understand a statement of Job's, "Master of the Universe, You have created righteous men and You have created wicked men." [how can this be correct] when righteousness and wickedness are not predestined?

(6) Also, we need to understand what is the true nature of this intermediate person [beinoni]. For certainly he is not someone whose deeds are half meritorious and half sinful [that he spent half his life doing good and half his life doing evil] for if that were the case how could Raba mistake himself for an intermediate person [beinoni]? It is known that his lips never ceased reciting words of Torah, to the extent that even the Angel of Death could not overwhelm him. Then how would he make such a mistake to consider himself [an intermediate person [beinoni] unless 'intermediate' means fully righteous in behavior and not] half sinful?

(7) Additionally, [an intermediate person cannot be one who is half sinful, for] in the moment that one sins he is considered completely wicked [complete rasha]. (If afterwards he returns to righteousness [he repents from his sin] he is considered completely righteous.) Even someone who violates a minor rabbinic prohibition is considered wicked [rasha]

(8) This being so, we must conclude that the Beinoni is not even guilty of the sin of neglecting to study torah. This is why rabbah mistook himself for a Beinoni.

(10) And this that we normally say, that someone with half merits and half sins is called an intermediate person (Beinoni), and someone with mostly merits is called a righteous person (Tzadik) .that is a borrowed term regarding reward and punishment, for he is judged based on the majority, and in his verdict he is called righteous, because he won his case

(12) However, anyone who has not reached this level, even if he has more merits then sins, is not at all on the level and caliber of a rigorous person (Tzadik). and therefore our rabbis of blessed memory say in the Midrash (Yuma 38b): "G-d saw that there are few righteous persons(Tzadikim), so he planted them in every generation, as its written and a riotous person (Tzadik) is the foundation of the world" (Mishlei 10,25).

(13) So to explain this idea, based on what Rabbi Chaim Vital ob"m writes in Shar Hakdusha (and in Eitz Chaim-Shar 50 Chapter 2), that every Jew, a Righteous person (Tzadik) and a wicked person (Rasha), has two souls, as it is written (Yeshayahu 57 16) "and I have made 2 souls", and these are the two souls.

(14) The first Soul is from Kelipa and the other (unholy) side, and it is enclothed in a person's blood to give life to the body, and as it's written (Leviticus 17,11): ''for the Soul of the flesh is in the blood''. and from it (the soul) comes all bad character traits, from the four evil elements within it. Which are: anger and arrogance from the element of fire which rises. and desirable pleasures are from the element of water, for water plants all sorts of pleasure.

(17) The souls of the people of the world, however, emanate from the other, unclean klipot which contain no good whatsoever. As written in Etz Chayim (portal 49 chapter 3) that all the good that the people do, is done out of selfish motivations. So the Gemara comments (Bava Batra 10b.) on the verse (Mishlei 14:34), "The kindness of the people is sin"- that all the charity and kindness done by the people of the world is only for their self-glorification. etc.