תורה 72

2. The evil inclination has many different forms. There are base and materialistic people whose evil inclination is likewise base and vulgar. For the majority, their evil inclination is the blood itself—i.e., the blood in the [heart’s] left ventricle, which is quite strong. The turmoil that these people experience stems primarily from the turbidity and muddle of the blood. In truth, anyone with even a minimum of clear spiritual awareness regards this evil inclination as immense foolishness and madness. He does not have to muster any resolve in order to defeat it.

And even that which the general populace considers a severe test, such as sexual temptation, to him is mere folly. He does not consider it a test at all. This is the case for anyone who has any spiritual awareness and some slight conception of the greatness of our Lord, the Creator, may His Name be blessed. As it is written (Psalms 135:5), “For I know that God is great, that our Lord is above all heavenly powers.” It is impossible to explain this by either the written or spoken word. For God’s greatness is known to each individual only commensurate with what he can estimate in his heart, as is written in the holy Zohar (I, 103b): “Her Master is known at the Sh’ARim (gates)” (Proverbs 31:23)—each person commensurate with what he can ShAeR (estimate) in his heart. Thus, when someone merits estimating in his heart God’s greatness, there is certainly nothing that is considered a test vis-à-vis this, nor does he have to muster any resolve concerning it.

However, there is a form of evil inclination that is a holy angel. It is nonetheless an evil inclination and one has to strengthen one’s resolve and flee from it—i.e., [from] the aspect of severities and the aspect of judgments. The spiritually aware individual has this [form of] evil inclination—i.e., severities and judgments—and he must overcome it and temper the judgments so that there is only absolute good. For anyone to be absorbed in the place he is meant to be absorbed—i.e., in the Infinite One, where it is entirely good, and where there is no judgment, God forbid—he himself must be absolutely good and mitigate all the severities and judgments, which are the evil inclination of on high.

It was in this that David blemished with Batsheva. For certainly it cannot be said that David sinned physically, out of lust, God forbid. As David himself has said: “and my heart is hollow within me” (Psalms 109:22). He had utterly killed the vulgar evil inclination and subdued the blood in the left ventricle. Our Sages, of blessed memory, taught as well: Anyone who says David sinned is nothing but mistaken (Shabbat 56a). And even this minor blemish and slight transgression that did transpire, as brought—it, too, certainly was not caused by desire, turbid blood, God forbid, which is the source of illicit sexual desire. Rather, his blemish was on high, in the severities. He had not mitigated the evil inclination of on high—i.e., the severities and judgments. And even this was in a most subtle sense, since Batsheva was destined for David.

This is also the meaning of what was said of David (1 Chronicles 22:8): “you shall not build a House to My Name, because you have shed much blood.” In other words, he had not mitigated the severities, and therefore did not merit building the Temple. Even though it was God’s war that he fought, nevertheless, in the most exalted levels on high, that place into which one has to be absorbed—i.e., in the Infinite One—there is absolute good. Thus one has to be comprised of nothing but good, without any judgments at all.