Nefesh Hachaim: Shaar 1, perek 6-7

And in Vav, Nefesh Hachaim explains how in the original Bria of Adam, internally Adam only had Koach of Kedusha Levad. All the various Kochos of the Olamos were in a microcosmic way compressed into Adam Harishon. And although he had Bechira, there was no Koach Hara which was internal to Adam Harishon. The way the Nefesh Hachaim depicts the Yetzer Hara originally before the Cheit of Adam was the same way nowadays, let's say, you can talk about a person has Bechira whether or not to stick his finger into the fire, whether or not to do something like that. So people don't experience a sort of natural Yetzer Hara to do it. I think we would describe it more as a perverse Yetzer Hara because it's something that's external. The natural Yetzer Hara, things to which we're naturally drawn, to which we're naturally attracted. So that's a natural Yetzer Hara. The fact that it's again that we experience it as such is because now post the Cheit, so the Yetzer Hara is something which is internal within a person. Mah she’ein kein Adam was always a Baal Bechira, if he hadn't been a Baal Bechira the Cheit couldn't have happened, but the Yetzer Hara was something external and it became internalized Al Yedei Hacheit. And again, the Mashal for an external Yetzer Hara is like the kind of again Yetzer Hara that a person would have to try to walk through a fire, to stick his hand into fire and see if he could emerge unscathed. As a result of the Cheit, so then Adam internalized the Yetzer Hara and now the Yetzer Hara is again something which a person experiences naturally. The result, says the Nefesh Hachaim, is because now that there is this internal Yetzer Hara as well, is that very rarely is it ever the case that you can describe our actions as being 100% Tov or Rachmana Litzlan 100% Ra. And here the Nefesh Hachaim says Pshat in the Pasuk in Kohelet. This is one of the few things in Nefesh Hachaim where he says things that we have from the Baal Shem Tov as well. And this is one of those Pshatim where the same is said by the Nefesh Hachaim and by the Baal Shem Tov. The Pasuk in Kohelet,

כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא.

So we generally translate that Pasuk that who such a big Tzaddik that he always does Mitzvos and never ever does an Aveira? No, occasionally even a big Tzaddik Rachmana Litzlan does an Aveira. Nefesh Hachaim says no, what it means is כי אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב and within the Tov Velo Yecheta. That because of this Irbuvya that now exists as a result of the Cheit of Adam Harishon, so our Maasim themselves are often some kind of mixture of Tov and Ra. That's what it means, אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב and within the Tov Velo Yecheta. Be'emet the Ramchal, at least in Mesillat Yesharim, without going into the background of the contrast between pre-Cheit and post-Cheit, has the idea also when he comments on the Gemara in Yevamos that עכשיו שנברא יפשפש במעשיו ימשמש במעשיו. So he says what's the difference between Yifashpesh Bemaasav and Yimashmesh Bemaasav? So he says one is to see whether or not whether what I'm doing is a Maaseh Tov or Rachmana Litzlan is an Aveira. The other is within my Maasim Tovim to feel and to look, maybe somewhere there's a little bit of a Chisaron within my Maasim Tovim. Unquestionably the maise is fundamentally good and sound and right, but maybe within it there's something missing. And that's what he says is the double loshon of yifashpesh b'maasav, the same idea that the Nefesh HaChaim has here in אדם אין צדיק בארץ אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא. The need to sort of have a nuanced self-understanding, understanding of others, is a very important one. To just sort of acharei rabbim l'hatos within our own actions, so again, so then we leave ourselves with imperfections which can be corrected, where there's room for improvement. Towards the other end of the spectrum, a person can too easily be misyayeish. The fact that a person is aware of a chisaron or chesronos, that a person is aware of a certain amount of ra, so again, there's a mixture inside of us, it doesn't mean that there isn't tov with which the person can sort of marshal and overcome whatever struggles a person has. There's a very beautiful story about the Beis Yisrael from Ger. The story is told on a tape from the Tolner Rebbe in Yerushalayim tells the story, that he was present b'didi havah uvda. He was asked to go into the Beis Yisrael, the Gerrer Rebbe, with the following problem, that there was a person who for some reason had this strong netiyah to shmad. And the netiyah was getting stronger and they didn't know what to do about it. So he presented the question to the Gerrer Rebbe, so the Gerrer Rebbe was very distressed to hear of a neshama with such a struggle and began pacing back and forth in his room thinking about what could be done to help the person. And then after pacing a little bit, he asked for a Gemara Shabbos. And he opens the Gemara Shabbos to Perek Kol Kisvei where the maamar is that

כל העונה אמן יהא שמיה רבא בכל כחו אפילו יש בו שמץ עבודה זרה כדור של אנוש מוחלין לו.

Puts his finger on that Gemara and says, what's the limmud from this Gemara? What's the limmud from this Gemara? So the answer he's given is, well, the limmud from this Gemara is that if a person answers

אמן יהא שמיה רבא בכל כחו אפילו יש בו שמץ עבודה זרה כדור של אנוש מוחלין לו.

So the Gerrer Rebbe shakes his head and says, no. What's the limmud from this Gemara? So הוא מותיב ליה והוא מפרק ליה, so then he answers, he says the limmud from this Gemara is that even if a person has shemetz avodah zarah, he still capable of answering אמן יהא שמיה רבא בכל כחו. The way an Adam Gadol understands, understands. So the recognition, the understanding of the mixture that's within us, again, even when Baruch Hashem something is fundamentally good, so we have to be aware of it to improve it, to make it better, יפשפש במעשיו וימשמש במעשיו and certainly at the times when a person feels a certain yerida, then a person certainly has to know even if right now for some reason the what strikes him more is the yerida, so a person has to know that where even if at the moment the ra seems to be more vocal or more visible, whatever, that the tov certainly remains and a person can reach down and try to activate and rebound with it. He has another remarkable hagah here in Perek Vav that the process that unfolds when a person undertakes to do a mitzvah. If you take a look at the second hagah here in Perek Vav:

וזהו שתיקנו נוסח ברכת המצוות אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וכן וקדשתנו במצוותיך כי מעת שעלה על רעיון האדם לעשות מצווה תכף נעשה רשומה למעלה במקור שורשה העליון וממשיך משם על עצמו אור מקיף וקדושה עליונה חופפת עליו וסובבת אותו. וכתב מפורש והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים וכמאמרם ז"ל כל המקדש עצמו מלמטה מקדשין אותו מלמעלה ורוצה לומר שמלמעלה נמשך עליו הקדושה משורשה העליון של המצווה.

Skipping a little bit:

וזהו האור המקיף הוא לו לעזר לגמור המצווה ועל ידי הגמר האור מתחזק יותר ויאור מאור עליון על זה אמרו ז"ל הבא ליטהר מסייעין אותו.

Nefesh HaChaim seems to, one of the most remarkable things about Nefesh HaChaim is the way he says pshat in, again, psukim that we see all the time, matbeia habracha that we say all the time and reveals a depth that we were totally unaware of. The Nefesh HaChaim seems to understand that Asher Kidshanu Bemitzvosav that there is a degree of kedusha which a person attains even without doing the mitzvah. It's not just אשר קדשנו בעשיית מצוותיו בקיום מצוותיו, the diyuk seems to be Asher Kidshanu Bemitzvosav, that just the acceptance of the mitzvah, the resolve to do the mitzvah, so there's an Asher Kidshanu associated with that. And every time when we say the Asher Kidshanu Bemitzvosav and then the vetzivanu, meaning even before we're getting to the stage of the asias hamitzvah, there's an already Asher Kidshanu Bemitzvosav. And he says what that means is כי מעת שעלה על רעיון האדם לעשות מצווה. A person decides he's going to do a mitzvah. He's going to put on tefillin, he's going to be misatef betalis, he's going to go to shul to davven, he's going to sit down to learn vechulu. That that already, that thought, that resolve already elicits... the person to go ahead and be mekayem hamitzvah. He says אלמלא כתיב אי אפשר לאומרו but the Nefesh HaChaim describes

גם מושכת וגוררת את לבו מזה לסגל עוד כמה מצוות אחר שהוא יושב עתה בגן עדן ממש חוסה בצל כנפי הקדושה בסתר עליון

that the kedusha that envelops a person again initially through the the thought the resolve to to undertake the mitzvah and then subsequently through the kiyum hamitzvah is the same as the kedusha which envelops a person in Gan Eden.

וכאשר ישים אליו לבו בעת עשיית המצוה יבין וירגיש בנפשו שהוא מסובב ומלובש כעת בהקדושה ורוח נכון נתחדש בקרבו וזה שאמר הכתוב אלה המצות אשר יעשה אותם האדם וחי בהם בהם היינו בתוכם ממש

not through them but in them שהוא מסובב אז בקדושת המצוה ומוקף מאוירא דגן עדן. If a person would pay attention he could even discern and experience this kedusha. How come we don't? So presumably for either or both of of two causes. Either the resolve is weaker. The weaker the resolve so mistama the weaker the lesser the kedusha and the harder it is to to discern. And then secondly b'eis kiyum hamitzvah that even then we're not fully and totally invested in the mitzvah. You go you see by big talmidei chachamim. You see when they're learning that that you can be standing near Even though there is a sixth sense that you have when someone's standing and looking at you, so we all have a sixth sense to be able to notice that. The teretz is because they're fully invested in it, not sort of, one foot in, one foot out, but they're fully invested in it. The stronger the resolve and the more complete the involvement is, so then the more, the closer to realizing the יבין וירגיש בנפשו the person is מסובב ומלובש כאש in that kedusha. The same is true Nefesh HaChaim continues conversely

וכן להיפך חס ושלום בעת עובר על אחת ממצוות השם ואמרו גם כן במאמרם ז"ל כל המטמא עצמו למטה מטמאין אותו למעלה הוא ממשיך רחמנא ליצלן רוח הטומאה על עצמו וחופפת עליו וסובבתו.

Again besides the kabbalah shebo but on a more esoteric level the Rambam writes in Hilchos Teshuva that

כל מצוות שבתורה בין עשה בין לא תעשה כשיעבור אדם על אחת מהן וישוב מחטאו.

The Rambam uses the idiom that he's yashov meichato because chet is an entanglement and when a person is shav he has to be shav meichato. There's an entanglement. Again the Nefesh HaChaim depicts it in the terms of the ruach hatuma. It further reinforces again what on many levels is one of the main thrusts of certainly of Sha'ar Aleph of the Nefesh HaChaim which is the importance of everything we do. The more we realize that there's a lasting and lingering imprint so then the more seriously we take our actions initially. Perek zayin the Nefesh HaChaim continues quotes the Ma'amar Chazal again that this too is something that the Baal Shem Tov quotes and talks about on the pasuk of השם צלך על יד ימינך. which can be translated and understood as like Hashem, HaKadosh Baruch Hu's like your shadow. If you extend your left arm, so then your shadow extends your left arm. You pick up your right foot, your shadow extends its right foot. So kavyachol, what does mean Hashem tzilcha? That Hashem responds to us, he reciprocates. He responds to us reciprocally. כשם שאתה הווה עמי כך אני הווה עמך. And then remarkably Chazal say, he quotes it from the Midrash, then quotes it also from a passage in the Zohar.

אם אתה משחק לו הוא משחק לך. אם הוא עומד בהארת פנים מלמטה אז כך מאירים לו מלמעלה אם הוא עומד בעצבות נותנים לו דין זה כנגדו כעין זה עבדו את השם בשמחה כי שמחת האדם מושכת אליו שמחה אחרת עליונה.

Then a person can't be passive, waiting to be besimcha, so let HaKadosh Baruch Hu give me circumstances that will inspire me to be besimcha. Then I can be besimcha. The teretz is Hashem tzilcha, rachmana litzlan, a person, not talking about clinical which can be chemical and beyond a person's control, not talking about that now, if a person is beatzvus. So then he has to take the initiative to be besimcha, and then HaKadosh Baruch Hu responds accordingly. HaKadosh Baruch Hu's reaction mirrors our actions. It's something which places an achrayus, but it also is something which empowers a person tremendously. Hashem tzilcha means that if only we want, so if only we're looking for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, so then kavyachol HaKadosh Baruch Hu is looking for us. And and the two find each other. If only we're trying to be besimcha, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu takke makes it, makes it besimcha. It's a tremendously empowering understanding of kochos ha'adam and hanhagas Hashem.