תְּמִימוּת

The primary holy intellect is temimus [wholeness, sincerity] — see the chapter Appendices of Fear and the Service of Hashem [Yir'ah va'Avodas Hashem b'hashmasos], §6.

Temimus and simplicity [peshitus] are higher than everything. [No source citation in this edition.] Many many very great and awesome tzaddikim have said of themselves that they reached their level only through the matter of prostik [simple and straightforward — Slavic/Yiddish] — meaning they engaged in their service with complete wholeness and simplicity; and multiplied their recitation of Tehillim and hisbodidus and personal conversation between themselves and their Creator in simplicity, etc. [v'hisbodidus v'sicha beinam l'vein konam b'peshitus v'chulu]; and they asked of Hashem Yisborach only free gifts and the generosity of lovingkindness. And through this specifically they reached what they reached. Fortunate are they. [No source citation in this edition.]

The primary source of all falls is through wisdoms. For when a person follows his own wisdom he can come to great evils — for the wisdom leads him astray from wisdom to wisdom and from wisdom to wisdom, until he is caught and led astray by his own wisdom; to the point that he becomes literally like a madman, may the Merciful One protect us. And he can come through this to complete heresies, may the Merciful One protect us — to deny the King and His ministers: meaning to deny the King of the World and all the truly true tzaddikim. And the entire world becomes in his eyes as nothing — and he mocks the entire world as if the entire world were in error, Heaven forbid. And through this he becomes very degraded and lowly and despised in spirituality and physicality. Beyond the fact that he is always full of sufferings and very many deficiencies — and everything that happens to him is all against his will; and he is full of anger and anguish always even at the time of his great success — and how much more so afterward when he descends from his level, and harsh and bitter punishments come upon him, may the Merciful One protect us, beyond the way of nature entirely; and he still stands in his rebellion and strays in his wisdom and introduces everything into the way of nature — even though everyone then understands concerning his words that they are the words of a literal madman, as is understood in the inner text. Even so, the wickedness of his wisdom has misled him so much that he is strong in his evil view even then. And through this itself those very sufferings and punishments torment and afflict him and grieve his soul all the more — for since he has no faith and attributes everything to the way of nature, he thus has nothing with which to comfort himself at all concerning his pain and harsh suffering, may the Merciful One protect us. But one who merits to truly walk in the ways of temimus — he lives truly good and genuinely good lives; and however things are conducted with him, all is good and straight before him — and he is full of joy always. And even if he has only dry bread and pressed water — he greatly delights in this; and he feels in the bread and water in truth all the tastes of all the foods and drinks in the world. And likewise regarding garments — even if he has only some very humble garment, he greatly delights in it as if he had all the good garments in the world; and he is never lacking anything; and he is not envious of any person — only he truly rejoices in his portion in spirituality and physicality, and he does not look at his fellow's deeds at all; and he is not moved even by the mockery of the mockers of the generation — and even when they mock him he responds to them with wholeness and truth; and he speaks with everyone with great sincerity without any cunning whatsoever. And through this very thing he can afterward merit to rise to a very lofty supernal level in spirituality and physicality — and become a ruler, leader, and righteous judge. He may also afterward merit to become a sage, deeply wise in all wisdoms, of very lofty level in spirituality and physicality — but even then he does not abandon his ways of temimus. And through this he is more important before the King of the World — to the point that He elevates him to an even higher supernal level. And ultimately the final rectification of those wise men who strayed after their wisdom — after undergoing very very harsh punishments and suffering, may the Merciful One protect us, in this world and the next — will be only through these tzaddikim and wholesome ones who are temimei derech [whole of path]: who merited to walk in truth all the days of their lives only in the ways of wholeness and simplicity as it truly should be.

The Simple Man [Tam] enters his father's house and inherits it. This appears to allude to the fact that his father's house is the holy faith [emunah] which is the inheritance of the fathers [nachalas avos]. See Likutay Moharan §97: "He remembered His lovingkindness". And therefore he had rest and dwelling in his ancestral inheritance — for in the place where he could not attain through his intellect, he was established in his ancestral inheritance which is the holy faith. But the Wise Man — his father's house became ruined and lost; for he follows only his intellect and does not wish to rely on faith — and therefore he is uprooted and confused and has no house of rest; since he has no foundation of faith which is the strong foundation to rely upon and rest in. [No source citation in this edition. This teaching draws on the same story.]

It is easier for the Simple Man to attain the Wise Man's level as well — meaning to become deeply wise in all the wisdoms even more than the Wise Man; as we have seen with many many simple and awesome tzaddikim who were deeply wise in all the seven wisdoms to the ultimate degree of completeness. And not only that — but they also merited to a supernal attainment from the dimension of the supernal wisdom [chochmah ila'ah] that is above all wisdoms. But one who follows his intellect and strays after external wisdoms and philosophy — it is very very hard for him to return to the ways of wholeness and holy faith in completeness.

The King did not wish to make the Wise Man an overseer of the treasuries — lest through his wisdom and intellect he be able to squander the King's treasuries. Therefore they specifically appointed a simple man [ish tam dayka] as overseer of the treasury.

The Wise Man became arrogant in his wisdom, wealth, and greatness to such a degree that the entire world was in his eyes as nothing — and he had great sufferings on the road; for because of his wisdom he had no one to speak with, as is explained in the inner text. And in the end afterward — when the King sent for him — the Wise Man applied his wisdom: "what is this — that a king like this would send for a lowly and despised person such as I, etc." — until through this he came to outright heresy: he denied entirely the existence of the King and proved that all governance was through seventy ministers of the province. And at first all his proofs were: "who has seen the King, etc." [mi ra'ah es ha'melech v'chulu]. And in the end when the Simple Man — the minister — told him: "but I myself have seen the King" — he denied him too and said: "from where do you know that this is the King, etc." [minayin atah yodea she'zeh melech v'chulu]. See and understand the depth of the wickedness of his heresy — and particularly how he denied even more regarding the Ba'al Shem Tov who is the dimension of the true Tzaddik, as is explained there. And all of this is because of the foolishness of his evil and confused wisdom, which overturns the straight paths from opposite to opposite — entirely from the truth; for the ways of holy intellect which are the dimension of temimus are the opposite of all this. For one must truly believe in the wise men and truly true tzaddikim — and certainly in the King of the World Himself. And in truth the faith in the sages and faith in Hashem Yisborach are all one — as is explained elsewhere. And both depend on each other. And one must also believe that even though Hashem Yisborach is very great — above all spirituality and exalted above all blessing and praise and "no thought can grasp Him at all" [from Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction] — even so He desires our service specifically — as it is stated "and You desire the praise of lumps of earth and clods of clay" [from Rosh Hashanah Mussaf]. And He sends after us and calls us at all times — and hints to us holy hints to draw close to Him, blessed be He. And even though certainly a person must truly be humble in his own eyes — even so one must believe that Hashem Yisborach receives great pleasures from our service; and one must fulfill "do not despise any person" [Mishnah Avos 4:3] — and know and believe that in every Israelite there is a good and very precious point that his fellow does not have; and one must receive the illumination of that point from him, as is explained elsewhere. And one who walks on this path — certainly every Israelite is very important and precious in his eyes; and when he meets even the most lowly of Israel, certainly he has something to speak with him and receive from him or illuminate him. And even when he meets idolaters he can receive from him — as is explained in the discourse "who is the man who desires life" [Psalms 34:13], Likutay Moharan §33. And all this is merited specifically through the ways of temimus.

The Simple Man knows his own lowly worth — and therefore he engages in his work: the holy craft [melachas hakodesh] and the service of Hashem continuously [b'tmidus] — to the point that he has no leisure even to set himself for a meal and the like from other worldly needs; only while engaged in his work he grabs and eats his meal too in a passing way, etc. [b'derech arai v'chulu]. And even so, if he sees that the craft does not come out in completeness in his hand — and he is only in the dimension of a shoe of three corners [min'al shel gimel ktzavos] — and because of this he also does not expect great reward for his service; since he knows himself that he is not in completeness. But even so he greatly delights in his service — and feels in it a wonderful and very sweet pleasantness. And he does not look at all upon the fact that his fellow's service is more complete than his service — since his fellow is a great intellect and person of attainment; and presumably he will also receive greater reward for his service. (There are many who weakened in their minds and fell from their service through such matters — through envying their fellows who saw that their deeds and service was more complete, etc.) But the Simple Man — meaning one who serves Hashem with true temimus — does not look at this at all; for what does he have to do with his fellow? — that is his fellow's deed and this is his own deed. And he rejoices in his portion and greatly delights in his service of Hashem: in what he has from hand to hand [immediately]. And after all his constant service and toil — if he merits only that Hashem Yisborach should receive from him some pleasure however small — from some passing movement he performs for the sake of Heaven in truth and with temimus — certainly this is very precious beyond all wealth; and it is worthwhile to toil for this all the days of one's life. And certainly his reward will not be withheld — and beautiful is one restful breath in the World to Come, etc. [yafah korat ruach achas ba'olam haba v'chulu].