וְזֶה לְעוּמַּת זֶה: רָשָׁע וְטוֹב לוֹ לְעוּמַּת צַדִּיק וְרַע לוֹ.

One thing corresponds to another: The wicked person who prospers, that is, who possesses a trace of good, corresponds to the righteous person who suffers, that is, who possesses a vestige of evil. This expression, taken from the verse "God made this corresponding to that" (Eccles. 7:14), is often used to express the correspondence between good and evil. In the previous chapter, the author of the Tanya described the tzaddik who possesses a trace of evil, who is righteous in essence yet has not completely eradicated the evil within him. This vestige of evil, however, is lo, "to him," subjugated and nullified by the good that defines his being. Mirroring the incomplete tzaddik is the incomplete rasha, the wicked person who possesses some good.

דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁהַטּוֹב שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ הָאֱלֹהִית שֶׁבְּמוֹחוֹ וּבֶחָלָל הַיְּמָנִי שֶׁבְּלִבּוֹ כָּפוּף וּבָטֵל לְגַבֵּי הָרַע מֵהַקְּלִיפָּה שֶׁבֶּחָלָל הַשְּׂמָאלִי.

That is, the good that is in his divine soul, which resides in his brain and in the right chamber of his heart, is subservient and nullified to the evil that stems from the kelippa that is in the left chamber of the heart. Although both good and evil reside in the heart of the wicked person who possesses a trace of good, he is called a rasha, wicked, because the evil in him has gained mastery over him and has become embedded in his identity.

וְזֶה מִתְחַלֵּק גַּם כֵּן לְרִבְבוֹת מַדְרֵגוֹת חֲלוּקוֹת בְּעִנְיַן כַּמּוּת וְאֵיכוּת הַבִּטּוּל וּכְפִיפַת הַטּוֹב לָרַע חַס וְשָׁלוֹם.

This rank is likewise divided into myriad levels based on the quantity and quality of the nullification and subservience of the evil to the good, God forbid. As is the case with the incomplete tzaddik, the incomplete rasha, the wicked person who possesses a vestige of good, is a broad category. It includes an immense range of types that differ in the quantity of the good within them and the degree to which it is subjugated to kelippa.

יֵשׁ מִי שֶׁהַכְּפִיפָה וְהַבִּיטּוּל אֶצְלוֹ מְעַט מִזְּעֵר, וְאַף גַּם זֹאת אֵינוֹ בִּתְמִידוּת וְלֹא תָּדִיר לִפְרָקִים קְרוֹבִים, אֶלָּא לְעִתִּים רְחוֹקִים מִתְגַּבֵּר הָרַע עַל הַטּוֹב וְכוֹבֵשׁ אֶת הָעִיר קְטַנָּה הוּא הַגּוּף,

There is one in whom the subservience and nullification of good to evil is minuscule, and even then, it is neither constant nor does it recur at frequent intervals. Rather, on rare occasions the evil overpowers the good and conquers the "small city," which is the body. In his description of the various levels of incomplete rasha, the author of the Tanya begins at the top, with the one who is least evil. An incomplete rasha, a wicked person who retains a vestige of good, is someone in whom the evil rules over the good, but this rule may be temporary, occasional, or incomplete. Such a person may commit a sin, but he does not do so wholeheartedly nor with any pleasure. Inside, good and evil are in a state of equilibrium that is unstable, that every now and then it is prone to lose its balance. The highest level of incomplete rasha, which the author of the Tanya describes here, is no ordinary individual. Such a rasha would probably even be considered a tzaddik nowadays. Yet if he but once transgressed the divine will, on however slight a matter, and he has not yet repented and rectified it properly, he is at that moment in the category of a wicked person in whom there is a vestige of good.

אַךְ לֹא כּוּּלּוֹ אֶלָּא מִקְצָתוֹ לְבַד שֶׁיִּהְיֶה סָר לְמִשְׁמַעְתּוֹ וְנַעֲשֶׂה לוֹ מֶרְכָּבָה וּלְבוּשׁ לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ בּוֹ אֶחָד מִשְּׁלֹשָׁה לְבוּשֶׁיהָ הַנִּזְכָּרִים לְעֵיל. דְּהַיְינוּ, אוֹ בְּמַעֲשֶׂה לְבַד לַעֲשׂוֹת עֲבֵירוֹת קַלּוֹת וְלֹא חֲמוּרוֹת חַס וְשָׁלוֹם,

Yet it does not prevail over the body entirely, but rather only over part of it, so that the body might be obedient to its demands and become a vehicle for it and a garment with which to clothe only one of the animal soul's three garments discussed above (chap. 6). That is to say, the evil holds sway over either actions alone, so that one may commit minor transgressions, for instance, and not severe ones, God forbid, The garments of the animal soul are the thoughts, speech, and actions of kelippa. In the wicked person who is not entirely evil, the evil does not prevail over every one of the soul's garments; it does not exert total dominance over his entire existence. For example, he may commit an evil deed without the premeditation of thought and discussion. When the deed is not premeditated, the person does not identify as deeply with his actions. In that case, the deed only superficially relates to the inner self of its doer and so constitutes a minor sin, even the most subtle of sins.

אוֹ בְּדִיבּוּר לְבַד, לְדַבֵּר אֲבַק לָשׁוֹן הָרַע וְלֵיצָנוּת וּכְהַאי גַּוְונָא,

or over speech alone, so that one may speak but a trace of malicious speech or engage in scoffing and the like, The wicked person's transgression might have been in the realm of speech and not necessarily actual slander, which is a most severe prohibition but only avak lashon hara, literally, "the dust of slander," words that border on slander but don't constitute actual slander. The person may have said the words unintentionally, or the words themselves may not be prohibited, but one might have inferred something derogatory about someone else from his manner of speech.

אוֹ בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה לְבַד,

or else it holds sway over thought alone, Even if no actual deed was committed nor any word uttered, but a person only thought about committing a sin or simply pondered the matter in an innocuous way, he is nevertheless under the influence of the evil inclination within him.

הִרְהוּרֵי עֲבֵירָה הַקָּשִׁים מֵעֲבֵירָה.

through thoughts of transgression, which are worse than transgression itself.The Talmud states that thoughts of transgression are worse than transgression itself. Commentators offer various explanations for this statement. Rashi comments that the Talmud is not saying that a sinful thought is more severe than an actual transgression but is speaking of the severity of the temptation: The temptation to indulge in a sinful thought is often greater than the temptation to actually commit the sin. What is more, a person always has the opportunity to contemplate committing a sin, so this occurs more often than the actual commission, for which the opportunity does not always arise. The Or HaḤayyim suggests that because the contemplation of sin never sates the thinker's desire, he is less likely to experience remorse and repent for it than for a sin actually committed. On a deeper level, it is said that the contemplation of a sin, involving the most intimate of the soul's three garments, affects the soul to a greater extent and, in a certain sense, contaminates the soul even more than actually committing the sin.

וְגַם אִם אֵינוֹ מְהַרְהֵר בַּעֲבֵירָה לַעֲשׂוֹתָהּ אֶלָּא בְּעִנְיַן זִיוּוּג זָכָר וּנְקֵיבָה בָּעוֹלָם, שֶׁעוֹבֵר עַל אַזְהָרַת הַתּוֹרָה: "וְנִשְׁמַרְתָּ מִכֹּל דָּבָר רָע״ (דברים כג, י),(כתובות מו, א)

Even if one does not contemplate a transgression in order to commit it but rather ponders, for example, relations between a man and woman in general, one thereby transgresses the Torah prohibition "You shall be vigilant from every evil thing" (Deut. 23:10), regarding which our Sages say that "a person should not think impure thoughts by day and thereby come by night to impurity…" (Ketubot 46a). A sinful thought need not involve the thought of actually committing the sin. As the Talmud indicates, one should not contemplate a sin even as an abstract idea and even without any intention of committing it. At the end of the day, thoughts can lead to action. The Sages say that one "shall be vigilant from every evil thing" because "impure thoughts by day" can result in impure emission at night, a physical act.

אוֹ שֶׁהִיא שְׁעַת הַכּוֹשֶׁר לַעֲסוֹק בַּתּוֹרָה וְהוּא מְפַנֶּה לִבּוֹ לְבַטָּלָה, כְּדִתְנַן בְּאָבוֹת (פרק ג משנה ד): הַנֵּיעוֹר בַּלַּיְלָה כו׳ וּמְפַנֶּה לִבּוֹ כו׳,

Alternatively, it may be an opportune time to study Torah, yet instead one turns his heart toward idle matters, as the Mishna taught in Avot (3:4) with regard to the severity of one who remains awake at night and instead of studying Torah turns his heart to idle matters. This is a person who has the opportunity to study Torah but instead wastes his time thinking idle thoughts. Though these thoughts are not forbidden in themselves, they constitute a transgression in that he engages in them instead of studying Torah.

שֶׁבְּאַחַת מִכָּל אֵלֶּה וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶן נִקְרָא רָשָׁע בָּעֵת הַהִיא, שֶׁהָרַע שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ גּוֹבֵר בּוֹ וּמִתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּגוּפוֹ, וּמַחֲטִיאוֹ וּמְטַמְּאוֹ.

With regard to any one of these or similar transgressions, one is referred to as a wicked person at that time, because the evil in his soul overpowers him and becomes clothed in his body, causing it to sin and defiling it. Technically speaking, a transgression is considered as such only when the soul is clothed within the body, as a body alone cannot sin. Any of the transgressions involving one of the three garments of the soul – thought, speech, or action – or any similar minor sin deems the transgressor a rasha at the moment of its commission, irrespective of the severity of the sin or its attendant punishment.

וְאַחַר כָּךְ גּוֹבֵר בּוֹ הַטּוֹב שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ הָאֱלֹהִית וּמִתְחָרֵט וּמְבַקֵּשׁ מְחִילָה וּסְלִיחָה מֵה׳ – וַה׳ יִסְלַח לוֹ, אִם שָׁב בִּתְשׁוּבָה הָרְאוּיָה עַל פִּי עֲצַת חֲכָמֵינוּ ז"ל בִּשְׁלֹשָׁה חִלּוּקֵי כַּפָּרָה שֶׁהָיָה רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל דּוֹרֵשׁ כו׳ (יומא פו, א) כְּמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר בְּמָקוֹם אַחֵר.

Afterward, the good in his divine soul prevails over him, and he is remorseful and asks God for pardon and forgiveness. God then forgives him, provided that he repented properly by following our Sages' counsel, with one of the three categories of atonement expounded by Rabbi Yishmael and so forth (Yoma 86a), as explained elsewhere (Iggeret HaTeshuva, chap. 1). Because we are speaking of a wicked person who still possesses a vestige of good, the incomplete rasha, one in whom the supremacy of evil occurs only in a fleeting moment of weakness, the good eventually prevails and he feels remorse for the evil act he committed. This leads him to repent and earn God's forgiveness. With regard to this, the author of the Tanya refers to the various categories of atonement expounded by Rabbi Yishmael in the Talmud (and which the author expounds in Iggeret HaTeshuva ): "If one neglected [to perform] a positive commandment and [then] repents, he is forgiven even before he has moved from his place…. If one violated a prohibition and [then] repents, repentance suspends [his punishment] and Yom Kippur atones [for his sin]…. If one committed [a transgression punishable by] karet or [one of] the court-imposed death penalties, repentance and Yom Kippur suspend [his punishment], and suffering absolves [him of his sin]." But even after the incomplete rasha ceases his act of transgression, even after he repents properly and is completely forgiven for his sin, he is still not a tzaddik or even a beinoni but a rasha – a rasha who possesses a vestige of good. In chapter 1, the author of the Tanya explained that there are two methods of classifying a righteous or wicked person. The first, more commonly employed method is where the terms "righteous" and "wicked" respectively describe one who is innocent or guilty in a court of law. The author of the Tanya stresses there that in this sense these terms are merely borrowed expressions in relation to reward and punishment but do not define the person's essence. The second method, employed by the author of the Tanya, defines a person by his quintessential nature: Is his essence that of tzaddik or is it that of rasha? A wicked person who is not a complete rasha – who does not possess only evil – does not always act as a rasha but only occasionally. Such a person might, in terms of actual behavior, be great in Torah and good deeds, but in terms of his quintessential identity, he is a rasha. In the ultimate sense of the term, a rasha is not defined by his deeds but by his psychological state, by his capacity for transgression. A person can be a "wicked person who possesses good" without actually committing a single transgression. It is only that the balance between his divine soul and his animal soul is unstable, so that even if he actually commits no sin, the possibility for sin always exists.

וְיֵשׁ מִי שֶׁהָרַע גּוֹבֵר בּוֹ יוֹתֵר וּמִתְלַבְּשִׁים בּוֹ כָּל שְׁלֹשָׁה לְבוּשִׁים שֶׁל הָרַע, וּמַחֲטִיאוֹ בַּעֲבֵירוֹת חֲמוּרוֹת יוֹתֵר וּבְעִתִּים קְרוֹבִים יוֹתֵר.

There is a lower level of wicked person who possesses a vestige of good: one whose evil overpowers him more than in the aforementioned instances and in whom all three garments of evil, thought, speech, and action, are clothed. This causes him to commit more egregious transgressions and at more frequent intervals. Above the author of the Tanya spoke of a rasha who, when he commits a transgression, allows only one of the evil garments of the animal soul to clothe itself in his body, whether the garment of thought, the garment of speech, or the garment of deed. Worse is one who sins with all three garments of the soul, indicating a far greater dominance of the evil within him. It intimates more than a momentary weakness, more than an occasional succumbing to temptation. This is a sinner who is fully involved in his sin, who primes himself psychologically to it, plans it, discusses it, and subsequently commits it in practice. Yet even this person is still a rasha who possesses some good, whose good inclination is still manifest and active within him.

אַךְ בֵּינְתַיִים מִתְחָרֵט וּבָאִים לוֹ הִרְהוּרֵי תְּשׁוּבָה מִבְּחִינַת הַטּוֹב שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ שֶׁמִּתְגַּבֵּר קְצָת בֵּינְתַיִים,

In the interim, however, he is remorseful and visited by thoughts of repentance due to the good that is in his soul, which somewhat prevails over the evil between each transgression. Between sins, between waves of the kelippa's domination of his self, the good within this wicked person awakens, expressed by the feelings of remorse and repentance that plague any Jew who commits a transgression.

אֶלָּא שֶׁאֵין לוֹ הִתְגַּבְּרוּת כָּל כָּךְ לְנַצֵּחַ אֶת הָרַע לִפְרוֹשׁ מֵחֲטָאָיו לְגַמְרֵי לִהְיוֹת מוֹדֶה וְעוֹזֵב.

However, the good within him does not prevail sufficiently over the evil so that he may defeat the evil, enabling him to completely disassociate from his sins and to be considered one who confesses his transgressions and forsakes them. The wicked person has thoughts of repentance, perhaps even many such thoughts, but they do not actualize to the extent that the supremacy of the good over the evil becomes the true and permanent state of his soul.

וְעַל זֶה אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז״ל: רְשָׁעִים מְלֵאִים חֲרָטוֹת,

With regard to this category of the wicked, our Rabbis stated, "The wicked are full of remorse. " This dictum of the Sages refers to the wicked person who commits a sin and yet, while feeling remorseful and penitent, does not fully abandon his sinful ways. Were this person to refrain from sinning, his mind would be replete with thoughts of performing good deeds instead of being full of remorse. Yet he is stuck in a loop of sinning, remorse, and repentance. Such a person repeatedly sins and regrets, sins and regrets. Such regrets are a sign not of hypocrisy or self-deception but of the inner struggle between the two forces that dichotomize his inner self, between his divine soul and his animal soul. The feelings of regret and the thoughts of repentance are the divine soul's reaction to the triumph of the animal soul. It is proof that there is one part of his soul that will never give him rest.

שֶׁהֵם רוֹב הָרְשָׁעִים שֶׁיֵּשׁ בְּחִינַת טוֹב בְּנַפְשָׁם עֲדַיִין.

This represents the majority of wicked people, who still possess an element of good in their souls. Most wicked people belong to the ranks of the wicked person who possesses some good. The good within them is still active and repeatedly roused to combat the evil and influence the person. These surges of good cause the rasha to experience thoughts of repentance, and even to actually repent, but they fail to effect a qualitative change in the inner structure of his life. The incomplete rasha thus inhabits a life of sins and regrets, in which the sins are sins and the regrets are regrets. The remorse may be sincere, deep, and very painful, yet he remains a rasha, even at the moment of his remorse.

אַךְ מִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ מִתְחָרֵט לְעוֹלָם וְאֵין בָּאִים לוֹ הִרְהוּרֵי תְּשׁוּבָה כְּלָל – נִקְרָא רָשָׁע וְרַע לוֹ, שֶׁהָרַע שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ הוּא לְבַדּוֹ נִשְׁאָר בְּקִרְבּוֹ,

However, one who never experiences remorse, nor is visited by thoughts of repentance at all, is referred to as a wicked person who possesses evil, meaning the evil in his soul is the only force that remains active within him "A wicked person who possesses evil" describes a state of being in which the good in the person no longer operates and is no longer a factor within his personality. Such a person never experiences regret over his evil deeds.

כִּי גָּבַר כָּל כָּךְ עַל הַטּוֹב עַד שֶׁנִּסְתַּלֵּק מִקִּרְבּוֹ וְעוֹמֵד בִּבְחִינַת מַקִּיף עָלָיו מִלְמַעְלָה.

because the evil overpowered the good to such an extent that it withdrew from within him and now hovers over him, surrounding him from above. When contrasting the righteous and the wicked, the axiom with which our chapter began, that "God made this corresponding to that," is not applicable in its strict sense. No absolute symmetry exists between the complete tzaddik and the complete rasha. The complete tzaddik has succeeded in utterly driving out the evil within him so that he possesses no evil whatsoever. The complete rasha, on the other hand, cannot completely banish his divine soul so that he no longer possesses any good at all. There are two ways of affecting the animal soul. The first is to push it into a corner. This is what the incomplete tzaddik, the righteous person who possesses a trace of evil, does. He still has some shred of evil within him, but he has suppressed it so that it can no longer assert itself or exert any influence over him. The other way is to transform it so that it no longer functions as an animal soul but as a divine soul. This is the level of the complete tzaddik, the righteous individual who possesses only good. No evil remains within him because it has been entirely transformed into good. By contrast, the rasha can repress his divine soul, reducing it to a state of subordination to the animal soul, but he cannot annihilate it entirely, as the tzaddik can do to his animal soul. A person's soul actually exists at various levels, one above the other. There are five levels to the soul: nefesh, ruaḥ, neshama, ḥaya, and yeḥida. As a rule, only the lowest of them, the nefesh, operates in the realm of consciousness, while the others lie beyond the conscious reach of most people. A person's ascent to a higher level is his ability to consciously identify himself with a higher level of his soul. The highest level a person can reach is an awareness of the highest essence of his soul, which at its primary source is the "portion of the God on high" that is identified with God Himself. No one can drive out this aspect of his soul completely. Man cannot uproot this soul, his divine essence, because that would uproot his very existence. A person can, however, reach the stage where he is no longer aware of the existence of the divine soul, because it has ceased to operate within the realm of his consciousness. When in such a state, the divine soul encompasses him from above. It still exists, but the person has no conscious connection with it. He can then live an utterly animalistic life, completely disconnected from the higher levels of his soul: He does not encounter them, and they do not interfere with his life.

וְלָכֵן אָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז״ל (סנהדרין לט, א):

Therefore, our Rabbis stated, "The Divine Presence dwells upon any place where there are ten Jews" (Sanhedrin 39a). The Divine Presence rests wherever ten Jews congregate. Who they are or what they are doing is irrelevant. Whether they are ten perfect tzaddikim or completely wicked, it is impossible for the Divine Presence not to rest in that place. The Talmud, however, stresses that the Divine Presence rests "upon" these ten individuals. It hovers over them but does not necessarily affect them. Otherwise, one would be overwhelmed with holiness when one sits in a café or theater containing more than ten Jews. The Divine Presence is there, but in order to feel it, a person must be receptive to it. Here is the essential difference between the tzaddik and the rasha: To what extent is he receptive? To what extent is he open to the divine essence of his own soul? The story is told of the Kotzker Rebbe who once asked his disciples, "Where is God?" They responded in surprise, "What do you mean? He is everywhere!" "No," he replied. "He is wherever we allow Him to enter." In this chapter, the author of the