Tanya: Chapter 11

This chapter is the scariest perhaps in all the Tanya. Here the Rebbe states explicitly (what Chaza"l have stated elsewhere in the Talmud) that anyone who sins, in the midst of that sin is considered a total Rasha, evildoer.

We don't like to think of ourselves as downright evil, so it definitely comes as a surprise to know that sometimes that's how he might classify us. It makes sense though, when he explains the dynamics in terms of the control of the small town (the body) whenever we sin we are essentially handing over control of the town to our yetzer hara, or making our body a dwelling place for unholiness.

Just like eating something that is contaminated with botulism or the like will make a person sick, if only temporarily, so too going against the will of God literally contaminates our body, if only temporarily.

The good news is that when we do Teshuvah from a place of honesty HaShem immediately accepts it and forgives us. Every time, no matter how often, as long as we really and truly mean it.

The important point that shouldn't be overlooked, once we see how low the bar has fallen casting seemingly everyone in the role of rasha, is that just as involvement in an aveirah makes us temporarily a total villain, involvement in a mitzwah renders us a pure tzaddik [of the moment.]

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