Tanya -- Likutei Amarim, end of Chapter 1 -- the four evil characteristics of man.

שהן שתי נפשות

These are two nefashot — two souls and life-forces.

נפש אחת מצד הקליפה וסטרא אחרא

One soul originates in the kelipah and sitra achra.

והיא המתלבשת בדם האדם להחיות הגוף

It is this nefesh that is clothed in the blood of a human being, giving life to the body;

וכדכתיב: כי נפש הבשר בדם היא

as it is written, “For the nefesh of the flesh (i.e., the nefesh that sustains physical and corporeal life) is in the blood.”

וממנה באות כל המדות רעות מארבעה יסודות רעים שבה

From [this nefesh] stem all the evil characteristics, deriving from the four evil elements within it.

דהיינו: כעס וגאוה מיסוד האש שנגבה למעלה

Namely: anger and pride [emanate] from the element of Fire which rises upwards;

Once ignited by anger and pride, a man (like fire) soars aloft. Pride is the state of considering oneself superior to others. Anger too is an offshoot of pride. Would a person not be proud, he would not be angered when someone defied his will.

ותאות התענוגים מיסוד המים, כי המים מצמיחים כל מיני תענוג

the appetite for pleasures [emanates] from the element of Water, for water promotes the growth of all kinds of pleasure-giving things.

The ability of water to make pleasurable things grow indicates that concealed within it is the element of pleasure. Thus, the appetite for pleasure derives from the element of Water.

והוללות וליצנות והתפארות ודברים בטלים מיסוד הרוח

frivolity and scoffing, boasting and idle talk [emanate] from the element of Air; like air, they lack substance;

ועצלות ועצבות מיסוד העפר

and sloth and melancholy [emanate] from the element of Earth.

Earth is characterized by heaviness. A man encumbered by sloth and melancholy likewise senses a heaviness of the limbs.

וגם מדות טובות שבטבע כל ישראל בתולדותם, כמו רחמנות וגמילות חסדים, באות ממנה

From this soul stem also the good traits inherent in every Jew’s character, such as compassion and benevolence.


As the fires in Yerez Israel rage and most of us feel helpless to help, it is sad that the happy fires of Chanukah have been outdone in the news by the fires in Carmel. The only thing that many of us can try to do is to put out the raging fires of the etzer hara and the nefesh habahamis (animal soul) which rages inside of us and tells us to follow our base desires. Hashem should help us to put out the physical fires in Eretz Yisroel and bring on the geula shlema.

a Good Shabbos.