Weekly Story: We Speak A different Language
by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Avtzon
In continuation of the farbrengen on Yud Tes Kislev which we began two weeks ago, I am posting a conversation/farbrengen which I heard last year. You are welcome to join in me in a Yud-Tes Kislev farbrengen this Monday at seven-thirty PM in Congregation Toras Emes of Staten Island, 3151 Hylan Blvd.
On Yud Tes Kislev We begin the Tanya anew, and the discussion at that farbrengen, was on the first chapter of the Tanya.
There the Alter Rebbe states that the true definition of a tzaddik is one who never sinned. If someone who is extremely pious happened to not have fulfilled a mitzvah, even if it is a mitzvah of the rabbanan, at that moment he is not a tzaddik, not even a beinoini, but is called a rasha, until he repents.
This is a concept that is revolutionary and not easily understood. I remember when I was a youngster in Elementary school in Beis Yehudah in Detroit and then later in high school, we were discussing certain gedolei yisroel of the past generation. I stated that he is a beinoini, and my litvishe classmates were infuriated. How dare you say he isn’t a tzaddik?!
I answered that the Alter Rebbe explains a beinoini is one who has a yetzer hora, but never allowed it to control him. He never gave in, even on the smallest point or even on a minhag yisroel. So I am saying that the gadol we are speaking about never sinned, but still has a yetzer hora. A tzaddik, on the other hand, vanquished his yetzer hora completely, that it no longer exists in him.
Hearing this they retorted, there is no one that never sins, everyone does, just a tzaddik is one who is so devoted to Hashem that his sins are few and far apart.
I replied, evidently we speak different languages, you guys were furious at me for calling him a beinoini and not a tzaddik. But according to you that he indeed did sin not once, but a few times, that may define him a rasha. So why are you furious at me, when I stated that he is a beinoini as he never sinned, when you state that he is not even a beinoini?
They had no answer but looked at me incredulously, as if to say where did you get that definition from?
But this definition of theirs of what a tzaddik is, is commonly accepted and the question is, why does the Alter Rebbe say that it is wrong? Why is a person that had just one misstep, considered as a rasha at that moment?
Back to last year’s farbrengen. Someone there responded, I participated yesterday in a farbrengen led by Rabbi Chazzan of Manchester England and based on what he said, I will explain it with the following example / parable.
A tzaddik is someone who is considered outstanding. But let us see what outstanding means. In America, they play various sports. A decent player in baseball has a batting average of 265, a good player is at 290 and an outstanding one has a batting average over 310.
A pitcher who strikes out 8 or nine players per game, is outstanding, even though that means that twenty or more hitters were not struck out, and indeed hit the ball. So it is only one out of three or out of four players that he strikes out and that is only twenty-five percent, but he is outstanding!
Yet if a person is looking for a lawyer and it is known that a certain lawyer wins only half of his cases, he is mediocre at best. You want one that wins at least 85% of his cases. But if someone needs a surgeon and he is successful 85% you will call him a failure. After all, fifteen percent of his operations fail. So you see everything is relative and not always are you happy or will you accept one who is generally successful.
Now, to our question of “who is a tzaddik”? Obviously, if someone is basically good, he will be validated in his judgment, as the Alter Rebbe himself states. However, that doesn’t make him a true tzaddik. A tzaddik is completely pure.
Why is that the definition?
Fulfilling a mitzvah is not merely obeying a commandment, like a good employer that has an excellent resume, with only a few questionable actions or complaints against his work. It is a relationship like a friendship and a confidant.
Your BBF is one you can count on every time and in every situation. But if this friend says, I am available for you every day of the year, but one day I have the right to annoy you or go against you, are you going to say that is good enough and I will build a lasting friendship with him? Or are you going to be somewhat wary in what you confide into him? Are you concerned if he is going to break your trust and betray you by revealing it?
What would your reaction be to the “friend” that violated this trust and publicized something you said to him in confidence? He is a back-stabber, a traitor…..
This is what the Alter Rebbe was stating.
A Jew has a relationship with Hashem, our Creator. This relationship is total, everything has to be perfect to be called a tzaddik. If the person errs, so then it is like a speck on a bride’s gown. Will she want to wear it, or will she say it is blemished and must be cleaned?
Obviously, it has to be cleaned and until it is cleaned it is not befitting the bride. So too, one sin is a blemish until he does teshuva.
Rabbi Avtzon is a veteran mechanech and the author of numerous books on the Rebbeim and their chassidim. He is available to farbreng in your community and can be contacted at avtzonbooks@gmail.com
