In chapter 16 Luzzatto describes the exalted level of Tahara, Purity. The Tahor transcends all interest in pleasure, recognition and monetary gain and is motivated solely by the drive to serve God. He does Mitzvos לשמה, for their own sake, because כך גזר אבינו שבשמים, it is the decree of our Father in heaven. This results in actions of perfect purity, hence the label “Tahor.”
My student Bracha S. wondered about the feasibility of Tahara. Earlier in the year, we learned a fundamental teaching of Reb Chaim Volozhiner. He writes in Nefesh HaChaim (1:6, second note) that before the original sin of Adam, evil did not exist within man. Left to his own devices, Adam would naturally and consistently do the right thing (cf. Ramban to Devarim 31:6). In this lofty spiritual state, the only way man could be persuaded to sin was through a seduction coming from outside of himself, i.e., the snake.
Everything changed when Adam ate of the fruit of the עץ הדעת טוב ורע. The forbidden fruit brought evil into man, where it commingled with good. Ever since, writes Reb Chaim Volozhiner, it is virtually impossible for man to perform an act of perfect goodness or of perfect evil. No matter what we do, there are always elements of both good and evil blended into the act.
Bracha pointed out that according to the Nefesh HaChaim, Tahara is an impossibility. If there is always some evil motivation in our behavior, then nothing we do is ever truly Tahor.
It would appear that we have a fundamental debate here between R. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto and R. Chaim Volozhiner, but that can’t be right. R. Chaim Volozhiner’s Rebbe, the Vilna Gaon, was an avid student of Luzzatto’s Kabbalistic writings. It is also known that the Gaon particularly treasured the Mesilas Yesharim. R. Chaim Volozhiner would surely never disagree with Luzzatto.
I would like to suggest a radical solution to this problem. In chapter ten Luzzatto writes that a Naki is “completely cleansed of any negative trait and any sin… the fire of physical desire has been extinguished from his heart…” In other words, the Naki has no interest in sin and will naturally always do the right thing. This is the level of Adam before the sin! Tahara may indeed be unachievable for man after the sin, but the Naki is no ordinary man. He is cleansed and transformed. For a Naki, Tahara is not only feasible; it is a natural outgrowth of his Nekius.
Good evidence for this approach can be found in Perishus, the level right after Nekius. Luzzatto tells us that the reason it is so difficult to abstain from the physical pleasures is because we are seduced by the attractive appearance of things. “This seduction is what caused the original sin to occur, as the verse testifies, ‘The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat and it appeared desirous to the eyes…’ (Bereishis 3:6)” (Mesilas Yesharim, chap. 15).
To our ears, this just sounds silly. Do we really need to cite biblical verses to explain why we enjoy indulging in the pleasures of life?! But Luzzatto is not speaking to us; he is speaking to the Naki. Cleansed of all interest in sin and lacking the inner drive of the pleasure seeker, it is hard to understand why Perishus would be a challenge for a Naki. That is why Luzzatto reminds us of what happened in the Garden. חוה was Naki, but nonetheless, she fell for the forbidden fruit. For no matter how Naki a person is on the inside, the eyes are constantly receiving stimuli from the outside. And human eyes are always in danger of being seduced by the beckoning pleasures of the garden.
This approach also helps us appreciate an unusual piece of evidence found in chapter 16. Describing the challenge of Tahara, Luzzatto tells the story of R. Chaninah ben Tradion’s daughter.
She had a graceful bearing when she walked, and when she heard [people] commenting, “How fine is the bearing of that girl!” she immediately became more meticulous. This addition was clearly born of the praise that she received. Even though the forbidden element is vanishingly small, an act with components like this in the mix is not perfectly pure.
The daughter of the great Tanna was undoubtedly Naki in the sensitive areas of modesty and humility. Nonetheless, even the most righteous of women is not impervious to the impact of compliments. Just as external seductions cause the Naki to fail in Perishus, so too compliments can play with the mind and influence behavior, ruining the purity of our every act.
Let the Naki beware!
