Made Upright
“See, this alone I have found: Hashem made man upright, but they went searching for many schemes.” (King Solomon, in the Book of Ecclesiastes) Where We Begin There is a Jew who is fighting. He has been fighting for years. He fights his anger and his stubbornness. He fights a strong inner force that refuses to soften. He takes an honest look at himself. He beats his chest in regret. Again and again he decides: this time will be different. Then, after a while, the same trait rises up and stands firm again. Then despair comes, quiet and steady: Maybe I am simply defective. Maybe something in me is broken at the root. To that Jew, and to anyone who knows this despair, the verse comes and says something basic. The Foundation King Solomon says in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Hashem made man upright, but they went searching for many schemes.” Look closely at the words. Hashem created the person upright. The whole person. Not only the divine soul, but the person as a whole, with all his powers and all his traits. The fault is not in the raw material we were given. The fault is in the “many schemes.” These are the wrong directions, the times we aim our strength at the wrong place. Our Sages already said, about the words “very good” in the story of creation: “’Very good’ means the evil inclination.” The evil inclination is the inner voice that pulls us toward wrong. The Midrash is not joking with us. It is saying something huge. Even what looks to us like the root of evil inside us holds something “very good.” It holds a mighty power that was meant for holiness. The Hasidic View Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, teaches that the animal soul and all its traits come from a layer of creation where good and bad are mixed together. Inside it there is a spark of holiness. That spark is not a stranger that fell in there by mistake. It is part of the soul’s original design. Every trait of the animal soul has a full partner on the side of holiness. It is the same power with a different address. That is why working on our character traits is not about cutting them off. The Tanya teaches that this work has two levels. The first is subduing: you overpower the bad pull, but you keep the power itself. The second is transforming: the power itself is turned into a fire of holiness. Neither level destroys anything. Both redirect. There is no command here to “erase yourself.” The instruction is: “Find the right address.” In the words of the Tanya, where it speaks about heavy sadness and the battle inside us: despair over failing again and again is not serving Hashem. It comes from not understanding how the soul works. You are not defective. You are using mighty powers at the wrong address. Three Living Examples Let us take three people. The angry man. He has struggled with his anger for years. But notice this. The same force, the same fire that blazes when someone hurts his pride, is exactly the fire that lights up a fighter. A fighter in Hashem’s battles. Someone who will not put up with an insult to Hashem’s honor, who protests when something holy is treated with contempt, and who does not let go. It is the same energy at the wrong address. The obsessive man. He keeps going back to one thing, over and over, and he cannot let it go. Yet when that same power finds its own passage of Talmud, an inner idea that he truly lives, it turns him into a real, tireless student. He becomes someone who digs down to the depths and is never satisfied with the surface. It is the same energy at the wrong address. The rebel. He refuses to accept authority. He argues and raises objections. He does not fit in. But that same inner independence is the power of a leader. It belongs to someone who is not swept along by the crowd when the crowd is wrong, someone who knows how to stand alone. It is the same energy at the wrong address.
Putting It into Practice
When we take an honest look at ourselves, the question we usually ask is: “What is wrong with me?” That question does not lead anywhere good. It gives birth to heavy sadness and to despair. And you cannot do inner work from despair. The question to ask is: “Where does this power belong in holiness?” Do not ask, “How do I erase my anger?” Ask, “Where is my anger truly needed?” Do not ask, “How do I get rid of my stubbornness?” Ask, “What holy work is it waiting for?” This is the difference between a person who wages an endless war against himself and a person who leads himself. The first one wears himself out and arrives nowhere. The second takes the very same power and sends it to its true place. In Closing “Hashem made man upright.” This is the great announcement. You are an upright creation. The powers you were given did not come to torment you. They came to serve you. The “many schemes” are the wrong choices and the wrong directions. Do not amputate your nature. Aim it. Your greatest weakness is the raw material for your greatest strength in serving Hashem. This is what it means to turn the darkness itself into light.
Questions and answers
Q: What does the verse "Hashem made man upright, but they went searching for many schemes" say?
Rabbi Landau answers: “See, this alone I have found: Hashem made man upright, but they went searching for many schemes.” (King Solomon, in the Book of Ecclesiastes)
Q: What about a Jew who has fought his anger and stubbornness for years without success?
Rabbi Landau answers: There is a Jew who is fighting. He has been fighting for years. He fights his anger and his stubbornness. He fights a strong inner force that refuses to soften. He takes an honest look at himself. He beats his chest in regret. Again and again he decides: this time will be different. Then, after a while, the same trait rises up and stands firm again. Then despair comes, quiet and steady: Maybe I am simply defective. Maybe something in me is broken at the root. To that Jew, and to anyone who knows this despair, the verse comes and says something basic.
Q: What does the Tanya teach about the spark of holiness inside the animal soul's traits?
Rabbi Landau answers: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, in the Tanya, the classic book of Hasidic thought, teaches that the animal soul and all its traits come from a layer of creation where good and bad are mixed together. Inside it there is a spark of holiness. That spark is not a stranger that fell in there by mistake. It is part of the soul’s original design. Every trait of the animal soul has a full partner on the side of holiness. It is the same power with a different address. That is why working on our character traits is not about cutting them off. The Tanya teaches that this work has two levels. The first is subduing: you overpower the bad pull, but you keep the power itself.
Q: How can an angry man's fire become a strength in serving Hashem?
Rabbi Landau answers: The angry man. He has struggled with his anger for years. But notice this. The same force, the same fire that blazes when someone hurts his pride, is exactly the fire that lights up a fighter. A fighter in Hashem’s battles. Someone who will not put up with an insult to Hashem’s honor, who protests when something holy is treated with contempt, and who does not let go. It is the same energy at the wrong address. The obsessive man. He keeps going back to one thing, over and over, and he cannot let it go. Yet when that same power finds its own passage of Talmud, an inner idea that he truly lives, it turns him into a real, tireless student.
Q: Instead of asking "What is wrong with me?", what question should I ask about my traits?
Rabbi Landau answers: When we take an honest look at ourselves, the question we usually ask is: “What is wrong with me?” That question does not lead anywhere good. It gives birth to heavy sadness and to despair. And you cannot do inner work from despair. The question to ask is: “Where does this power belong in holiness?” Do not ask, “How do I erase my anger?” Ask, “Where is my anger truly needed?” Do not ask, “How do I get rid of my stubbornness?” Ask, “What holy work is it waiting for?” This is the difference between a person who wages an endless war against himself and a person who leads himself. The first one wears himself out and arrives nowhere.