Selected from the anthology, "Pirkei Avos in
the Light of Chassidus"
Avot 4:1 - Self-Conquest
"Who is strong? He who subdues his [evil] inclination..." (Avot 4:1)
"He who subdues his [evil] inclination", is
what the Mishnah states, not he who crushes it. Crushing one's evil inclination
is not an act of heroism at all. A strong person is one who subjugates the
powers and the strengths of the evil inclination - for it is possible to reap
"many harvests by the power of an ox" (i.e. the Yetzer Hara). When it is
properly harnessed and used for matters pertaining to holiness, it is capable of
producing very beneficial results.
Rabbi Shmuel Shneersohn - Torat Shmuel 5636, p.620  | | " Not all evil inclinations are equal..." | | |
If one has subdued his evil inclination, but has not
yet managed to transform the powers of his animal soul to holiness, his heart is
still rooted in matters of this world and he will constantly have to do battle
to subdue his heart using the power of his mind. However, this only subdues the
evil, without actually transforming it. According to Rabbi Shneur Zalman of
Liadi in Tanya, this person is identified as a "benoni".
Rabbi Shneur Zalman - Likutei Torah, Bamidbar 44b
The truth is that not all evil inclinations are
equal. The intensity and object of one's desires are different for each
person. But who is a strong man? One who subdues his own evil inclination, not
that of his friend.
- Likutei Perushim l'Tanya, p. 579 in the name of
the Baal Shem Tov
A saintly tzadik is the strong person who
subdues his evil inclination. To a tzadik the evil impulse appears to be
a huge mountain, which he nevertheless manages to cross. In the future, it will
be revealed to all how powerful those tzadikim were in managing to
overcome this huge mountain.
Baal Shem Tov - Tzva'at HaRivash, para.138
The true man of strength is not the tzadik who
drives away his Yetzer Hara, but one who subdues it. At the very moment
that the evil inclination tries to lure him into some passion, he sates firmly
that he will not acquiesce. "I will fulfill my passion...", he states, "...my
passion for a mitzvah!"
A tzadik who drives his evil inclination away
is like a watchman who spots a thief. While he is till at a distance the
watchman begins to shout in order to chase the thief away. However, the
tzadik who subdues his evil inclination is comparable to a watchman who
notices a thief and keeps silent. He lets the thief approach and then he pounces
upon him and captures him. This watchman did not chase the thief away, thereby
giving him a chance to try his luck again on another occasion. His reaction
demanded more courage, but its results were more beneficial.
- Maggid of Mezritch in Or HaTorah 102b | | " This attachment to G-d is found to a much greater degree in one who transgressed but repented..." | | |
The strength which a person expends in subduing his
evil inclination expresses the extent to which he is attached to the Holy One,
blessed is He. Although he has a desire for evil, it does not weaken his will to
listen to G-d and do only good. This attachment to G-d is found to a much
greater degree in one who transgressed but repented. His inner attachment to G-d
was not weakened by his transgression. On the contrary, his attachment is so
great that it gives him the strength to subdue his evil inclination - to repent
and return to serve G-d once again.
Lubavitcher Rebbe - Likutei Sichot, col. 20, p.111a
Avot 4:2 Mitzvah Rewards
The quality of our actions determines the outcome.
"...for the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah..."(Avot 4:2)
The reward for a mitzvah is brought about by the
mitzvah itself. (Tanya ch. 37)
The reward given to a person for performing a mitzvah
is not the same as payment given to a worker for doing a job. A worker plows and
sows, etc., and the owner of the field pays him money for his labor. However,
the worker does not create the money he is given as his wage. However, in our
case, the mitzvah itself creates its reward. (And the same is true of a
transgression).
- The Lubavitcher Rebbe in Likutei Pirushim l'Tanya,
p. 740 (3)
The reward and delight a soul receives in Gan Eden
is radiated by the mitzvah itself. And this is the meaning of the verse, "He
placed him [Adam] in Gan Eden to work [literally, 'to make it'] and keep
it" - i.e. Torah and mitzvot make Gan Eden by drawing down the radiance
of the Or Ein Sof into Gan Eden, and in this he delights. And this
is also the reason that the mitzvot are being called "candles" - when one lights
candles the house becomes filled with light, and when one performs a mitzvah its
radiance is drawn down into Gan Eden.
- Rabbi Shalom Dovber Shneersohn, Ma'amarim
5672, p. 1219 (3) | | " One who fulfills mitzvot out of habit...will earn only a superficial level of delight..." | | |
Earning Gan Eden through Torah and mitzvot is
not like payment for a job. A worker who did not do his job properly will not be
paid by his employer who is unwilling to pay for a job which has not been done.
However, one who does not do a mitzvah will automatically remain without reward,
for the reward of the mitzvah derives from the mitzvah itself.
- Tzemach Tzedek's Oh HaTorah, Chukat,
p. 863(3)
All tzadikim sit in Gan Eden with a
crown on their heads and delight in the radiance of the Shechina - this
is the delight experienced in comprehending revelation of G-dliness. However,
since the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself, it is proportional to the
effort a person expended in doing the mitzvah. Hence, each person is worthy of
divine revelation only according to the efforts he made in Torah and mitzvot in
this world. One who accepts the yoke of Heaven upon him in this world will
delight in the revelation of G-dliness. But one who fulfills mitzvot out of
habit, without awareness and concentration, will earn only a superficial level
of delight.
- Likutei Torah, Devarim, 78a;
Ma'amarei Admor HaZaken on Torah, p. 898 (3)
Avot 4:22 Delighting in G-d
"You live against your will, and you will die against
your will..." (Avot 4:22)
The natural tendency of the soul is to rise upward,
like a flame, and it is trapped in the body, against its will and against its
nature.
This natural tendency of the soul to be separate from
the body is expressed in the birth of a baby - the soul does not want to enter
the body, and there fore the Mishnah states, "You were born against your will",
and also during this life, as the Mishnah continues, "you live against your
will".
What, then, is the meaning of, "you will die against
your will?" One explanation is that the soul acquires this feeling after it has
been occupied with purifying and elevating the body. Once the body had been
purified, the soul becomes its recipient, and is elevated through the body. For
this reason it no longer wishes to part from it. (Nevertheless, as long as a
person has not reached this level, of him the Mishnah states, "you live against
your will".)
Rabbi Sholom-Dovber Shneersohn, Maamarim
5649, p. 233
"For My Glory I Created Him"
You live against your will - as far as man is
concerned, it would have been preferable had he not been created. This being the
case, why did G-d create man? | " He wanted
G-dliness to be known specifically through material things..." | | |
G-d created man for His glory, as the verse states,
"For My glory I created him". As our Sages teach, G-d wanted a "dwelling place
in the lower worlds". That is, He wanted G-dliness to be known specifically
through material things, and for this purpose He created mankind.
Everything in the world was created for mankind, and
when a person eats or drinks, occupies himself with business, and then learns
Torah and prays, he elevates the material world to G-dliness. When he discusses
Torah, or prays, he also attaches himself to G-d, and everything becomes imbued
with divinity.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman, Ma'amarei Admor HaZaken on
Torah, p. 738 (3)
Relating to This World
You live against your will - all the things a man uses
in this world for his bodily needs should be treated as against his will, and as
significant. They should not be used willingly to give pleasure and delight.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman, Likutei Torah, Shir HaShirim
33d (3)
When the soul recognizes the advantages of the
physical body, it does not wish to part from it - i.e. "you will die against
your will" - and this feeling is genuine. So too, a person should genuinely feel
"you live against your will"- his delight should be in G-dly matters, and not in
physical pleasures. Those things which are necessary for his existence in this
world should not be used to fulfill his natural physical appetites. Rather they
should be treated as only necessary, as if he is forced to use them, as the
Mishnah states "you live against your will".
Rabbi Yosef-Yitzchak Shneersohn, Maamarim 5696
p. 133 (3)
The Service of " Shov"
There are two aspects of Divine Service:
One aspect is the passionate desire of the soul to
strive upward with intense, burning love and cleave to the Creator, even though
this might mean parting from the physical body. This love is so intense that the
physical heart and body cannot contain it. This is called "ratzo", Hebrew
for "running". | | " When a person nullifies his will to G-d's...this causes in him a powerful will to live..." | | |
The second aspect is the opposite of the first - the
soul's decision to return and fulfill its mission in the physical body and the
world. This service draws down G-dliness into "vessels" in this world through
Torah and mitzvot. This is called "shov", meaning "returning", about
which the Mishnah states you live against your will in the physical body, in
order to bring about a revelation of G-dly light from its source Above into this
world through the practical performance of the mitzvot.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman, Torah Or 2a; 25b (3)
In Tanya (chapter 50) it is written that every Jew is
bound to move in both directions - ratzo and shov.
Realizing that the body is an exile and a prison of
the soul, the will of the soul is aroused to part from the body and blend and
merge into G-dliness (ratzo). However, the knowledge that G-d's intention
in creating the world and placing the soul in the body is to make a dwelling
place in the lower worlds, causes him to return - shov - and remain in
this world: "You live against your will".
Nevertheless, "you will die against your will". For
when a person nullifies his will to G-d's and does not seek his own benefit in
this world, rather seeking to fulfill G-d's ultimate purpose in creating the
world, this causes in him a powerful will to live. For such a person, the
departure of his soul from his body, and the consequent termination of his
service of G-d in this world, is very difficult, hence "you will die against
your will".
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Likutei Sichot, vol. 4, p.1218 (3)
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