Learning to transform evil to good is the ultimate spiritual challenge described by great Jewish thinkers. When we try to become better, we often feel that we have already conquered our bad qualities. But is that really the case? The great Jewish thinker Rabbi Shneur Zalman reveals an amazing truth about the inner struggle within each of us and the different levels of spiritual development.
The Struggle of Two Souls
Imagine that two souls live inside you, constantly competing with each other. One is the Divine soul, striving for the higher and spiritual. The other is the animal soul, drawn to earthly pleasures. These two forces wage a continuous battle for control over your thoughts, words, and actions.
When a person makes enormous efforts and allows their Divine soul to prevail, they embark on the path of the righteous. But here an interesting subtlety is revealed—there are two types of righteous people: the perfect righteous and the imperfect righteous, each with different abilities to transform evil to good.
The Imperfect Righteous: When Evil Seems Conquered
The imperfect righteous person (in Hebrew “tzadik she-eino gamur”) is someone who has expelled almost all evil from their heart. They have been so successful in this struggle that it seems to them that no evil remains within them.
However, in reality, a tiny particle of evil still persists deep within their soul. This evil is so small that it has no power over the person and is completely subordinate to good. The person doesn’t even feel its presence—but it’s still there.
Why does this happen? Because the imperfect righteous person doesn’t feel complete disgust toward worldly pleasures. Although they control their desires and don’t give in to them, deep in their soul they still retain a small degree of attachment to material enjoyments. They haven’t fully completed the process to transform evil to good within themselves.
The Perfect Righteous: When Evil Transforms into Good
The perfect righteous person (in Hebrew “tzadik gamur”) is at a much higher level. Not only is evil suppressed within them—it has been completely transformed into good. Their entire being, including what was once the animal soul, is directed only toward holiness.
How is this possible? It happens through a special type of love for the Divine—”great love, full of delight.” This love is so strong that it gives birth to absolute hatred toward all evil.
The perfect righteous person physically experiences revulsion toward worldly pleasures if they don’t serve a higher purpose. Since material enjoyments draw their life force from the “klipah” (the shell that conceals Divine light), the perfect righteous person rejects them, similar to how a person instinctively withdraws from dangerous objects. This complete transformation represents the ultimate ability to transform evil to good.
The Diversity of the Righteous
Rabbi Shneur Zalman explains that there are quite a few imperfect righteous people in the world. The Talmud speaks of “eighteen thousand righteous people standing before the Almighty.” Each of them is at their own level, depending on how much evil remains in them and to what extent it is subordinate to good.
But perfect righteous people—those who can fully transform evil to good—are extremely rare. As Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (author of the book “Zohar”) said: “I have seen the sons of ascension, but they are few.”
Why Are They Called “Sons of Ascension”?
The perfect righteous have been named “sons of ascension” (bnei aliyah) for two reasons:
- They elevate evil to holiness. Instead of merely suppressing evil, they transform it into good, turning “darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness.”
- Their service has a higher purpose. They study Torah and fulfill commandments not for their own spiritual satisfaction, but exclusively for the sake of uniting the Almighty with this world. Like a loving son who cares for his father and mother “more than for himself,” they completely dedicate themselves to the highest purpose.
A Practical Lesson for Everyone
It may seem that the level of the perfect righteous is unattainable for an ordinary person. However, Hasidic teaching emphasizes that in the soul of every Jew, there is potential for such love for the Almighty.
Even if we cannot completely transform evil to good, each of us is capable of awakening within ourselves the desire to fulfill commandments not for our own spiritual benefit, but to bring joy to the Almighty—like a child who wants to please their parents.
This is the profound practical lesson for us: to strive to serve not only for our own spiritual growth but also for the higher purpose—connecting Divine light with our material world.
How to Recognize Your Level?
How can we understand what level we are at in our journey to transform evil to good? Rabbi Shneur Zalman provides a simple indicator: our attitude toward worldly pleasures. If we still find them attractive, even when they are not connected to spiritual goals, it means that a particle of the “animal soul” still remains in us.
But we shouldn’t despair—even an imperfect righteous person is already at a very high level, and most great people of each generation belong to this category.
This article is based on the tenth chapter of the book “Likutei Amarim — Tanya” by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, one of the greatest Hasidic thinkers and the founder of the Chabad movement.
Afterword: This text has not been approved by any sage, Torah scholar, or rabbi and is merely a simplified adaptation of the sacred text for general understanding. For comprehension of true wisdom and a deeper understanding of the original text, you should refer to the sources.
