Chapter - 12 - The Righteous Ordinary Jew?

Chapter 12 describes the profile of an ordinary Jew (the Beinoni), one who spends his whole life in pitch battle with his physical soul. However, we are told he is completely equipped empowered to win this battle along every step of the way to the point that he can even overcome any negative thoughts and retaliations against those who slight him and hurt him in life. The example the Alter Rebbe brings is that of Yosef and his brothers. Yosef was sold into slavery by his brothers but eventually became ruler over all of Egypt, and therefore forgave them wholeheartedly since despite their intentions, the actual outcome was good.

There are several challenges to understanding this example of Yosef and his brothers. First of all, Yosef is not a Beinoni, an ordinary Jew. He is the quintessential tzaddik, the perfected Jew. Why in this particular case are we expected to rise to his level? Second, this seems to be a requirement that is outside of the purview of a Beinoni. An ordinary Jew we've been told can only affect his thought, speech and action, but not his feelings towards the world or people. Since feeling lies in the heart and the Beinoni does not have the power to transform his heart, emotions are outside of his control. So why is the Beinoni expected to push away negative feelings towards a person who has harmed them?

The Rebbe of our generation answers these questions in a Sicha on Parshat Chukas/Balak 5719. There he addresses a puzzling Midrash. The Midrash states: "Just as Yosef treated his brothers according to their actions, so You (G-d) should also reward us according to our actions". The Rebbe poses a question on the Midrash: Why are we only asking to be rewarded according to our actions - wouldn't it have been better to ask to be rewarded according to our needs - why limit the reward only according to our actions? Also, Yosef didn't really judge his brothers based on their actions but rather on the final result of their actions, which was positive.

The Rebbe explains, we are asking G-d to disregard our lack of divinely inspired intentionality in our Mitzvot, or even our selfish drives that are involved in getting us to serve Him. Rather, he should simply judge us on the level of action, of our actual deeds as they are emanating from our essential G-dliness, regardless of the external intentions that underly them. On this level, every Jew is "filled with mitzvot like a pomegranate [is filled with seeds]". Furthermore, we are also empowered to look at every Jew and see his essential goodness that derives from his being one with the Creator, regardless of how his intentions look to us externally here in this world.

What is the source of our ability to look beyond the external shell and see the essential Divine source of the Jew? This power comes from Yosef, one of the seven shepherds of the Jewish people, the quintessential righteous Jew.

It may be possible that this is the Alter Rebbe's intention in bringing up Yosef and his brothers at the end of his introduction of the Beinoni; in order to emphasize and highlight that the Beinoni's ability to stifle the most negative emotions and draw positivity into every situation is through his link to Yosef, the Tzaddik of the generation. Without that connection, the Beinoni, despite all his toil will not survive the challenges of trying to see the positive and generate a positive G-dly response to every event in their lives.

The Toldos Yaakov Yosef was one of the closest students of the Baal Shem Tov. The story that is brought down in Buber of how he became a student of the Baal Shem Tov is as follows:
The Toldos was orignally a mitnaged, an opposer of the Baal Shems and their followers. One Tisha B'Av he was so overwrought by the mourning and darkness of the day that he thought he was going to die from it. In his desperation, he picked up an apple and recited a blessing over it, but when he realized he was about to eat on a fast day, he tossed the apple away without eating from it. Although he had extricated himself from eating on the fast, he had recited a blessing in vain. And as much as he labored to atone for this transgression, he could not reach true wholeness.
One time, one of his students was engaged to be married to a daughter of a Chassid, a follower of the Baal Shem Tov. Though the Toldos could not allow himself to attend a wedding where the Baal Shem Tov would also be in attendance, his curiosity got the better of him and he stood outside the wedding hall eavesdropping on the conversation of the Baal Shem Tov inside. All of a sudden, he heard the Baal Shem Tov telling a story of a man who, overwhelmed by the mourning over the destruction of the Temple, recited a blessing in vain, and the Baal Shem Tov promised that he would provide that man a complete rectification. The Toldos understood this was the opportunity he had been seeking and became an ardent follower of the Baal Shem Tov.

We see that despite the Beinoni's work and focused efforts, he is posed with certain darkness that cannot be illuminated without the help of a Tzaddik.

Chapter 9 - Mind over Matter

Chapter 9 begins by outlining the basic battle between good and evil in man. The G-dly soul, the conscience dwells in the intellect, while the animal soul, the physical impulses, dwell in the heart. Therefore, all emotional impulses are skewed towards one's self-gratification while the intellect leans towards objectivity and a balanced outlook.

Catching a Ride

Oftentimes, our own physicality attempts to trap us in a web of emotions that seem to be motivated by intrinsic goodness - we become incensed over this Torah issue or the other and we do not practice the same discretion as we usually do in trying to hold back anger and abuse - under the guise that these emotions in this case stem from a "holy" source. The Baal HaTanya is explaining here as he began to describe in Chapter 3, that holy emotions require a great deal of preparation and contemplation to be created. On the other hand, basic and physical emotions will often use "holy" pretexts to allow them to be unleashed in a an unrestricted fashion. Excess anger and frustration are always looking to latch on to ("catch a ride" with) some Torah topic and thereby overwhelm the rational and balanced soul, flooding it with wave after wave of unbalanced emotion.

Every Good Deed has its...

Similarly, oftentimes a person will perform what they know to be a "good" deed without having in mind that all true goodness originates from following the Divine Will, and not the arbitrary goodness of the animal world. When an animal does goodness with one of its kind, it has value, but it is not a connection with the Divine. When a Jew does a good deed because he/she "feels" like it, we're missing out on the deeper connection that our soul came to this world to experience. For example, if a husband were to come home one night and find that his wife had cooked a nice meal and bought new books that he wanted to read. But then he finds that the meal and the books were done because the wife felt like having a good meal and bought the books for herself. The thought behind the action drives its value and determines whether it will connect us with Hashem. The intellect has the power to imbue mundane actions with G-dliness, and direct energy and light towards truly productive pursuits and away from animalistic waste.