A new inclination (yetzer) is discovered. Is this possible? We are all familiar with the inner struggle between our good inclination (yetzer tov) and our evil inclination (yetzer ra). However, there is a third inclination that lies in between the two—the intermediate inclination.
What is its nature? Where did it come from? How is it the force driving addiction, social media, and all forms of modernity? And how exactly do we rectify it? These are the questions that HaRav Ginsburgh addresses in this foundational teaching of Chasidic psychology.
This innovative teaching was first published in the Toldot 5786 edition of Nifla’ot.
THE INCLINATION IN-BETWEEN
One of the most fundamental ideas involved in serving God is the understanding that every human being is in a constant battle between his or her inclinations. This is the ongoing war between the good inclination (Yetzer HaTov) and the evil inclination (Yetzer HaRa).
Another, seemingly non-related principle in Chasidic thought is that between every two extremes there is an intermediate. It could also be referred to as the average between the two extremes.
Putting these two ideas together, we arrive at the conclusion that between the good and evil inclinations, which represent two extremes, there must be another inclination, which is mixed with good and evil together.
We find this principle of the intermediate applied to the impure husks that represent the negative forces in reality. In the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe draws a distinction between holiness, which vitalizes the performance of God’s commandments and whose hallmark is its nullification to God, and the three absolutely impure husks that vitalize and sustain everything that is forbidden. In between these two realms, we find an intermediate husk known as kelipat nogah, whose source is found in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This husk vitalizes and sustains everything in the world that is considered permissible. A permissible object is one that we are not required to utilize for the purpose of a commandment, but which is also not explicitly forbidden.
When we translate this schema of reality into the human psyche, we find that we have a good inclination, which is constantly pulling us towards everything in life that is holy, and we have an evil inclination, which pulls us to all that is forbidden. Just as there is a realm of the permissible in reality, so there is an inclination in us that pulls us toward all that is permissible. This in-between inclination we will dub the inclination for good-and-evil. Because this inclination is attracting us to the realm of the permissible, we can also call it the nogah inclination or yetzer nogah (הַגֹּר נֶצֵי) in Hebrew.
THE NOGAH INCLINATION AND MASHIACH
Kelipat nogah is considered a “husk,” because like the three impure husks, it acts as a curtain to veil Godliness. But because the veil of nogah is not completely opaque and a certain amount of light (i.e., Godly revelation) does get through, it is called nogah, which literally means “dimmed” or “muted” light. In practice, this means that those things that are in the realm of nogah can be elevated into holiness if they are used for the sake of serving God. The intent in such a case can either be premeditated or post-factum. For example, if one eats with the express intent to sustain one’s body so that one can serve God with it, then that is a premeditated intent for the sake of Heaven. But, even if one did not eat with this in mind, even if one simply craved food that is permissible to indulge one’s appetite, that food can be elevated post-factum is the energy is used in a positive way later. What counts is how the energy from the food is used in practice.
What is true of kelipat nogah is also true of the yetzer nogah, the intermediate inclination. Fundamentally, it too leans in the negative direction (like kelipat nogah, which fundamentally is a “veil” on Divine revelation). Because of that it can turn into a bridge to absolutely forbidden things. However, it can also serve as a bridge in the opposite direction, helping us elevate to holiness the sparks of Divinity trapped in evil. This effect is the inner meaning of the verse, “the path of the righteous is like the light of nogah, ever brightening until [it is as radiant as] noon” (רֹאוְים כִּיקִּדַח צַרֹאְוםֹויַן הֹכוְד נַר עֹאוָ וְךֵלֹ הוּהַגֹנ).
The fact that reality contains a realm called nogah is one thing. One can avoid falling into it the wrong way by simply avoiding it altogether. To this end, we find a famous Chabad instruction given by the Alter Rebbe, “What is forbidden is forbidden, but what is permissible is unnecessary.” Still, in our generation, the Lubavitcher Rebbe encouraged us to make use of all that is permissible to serve God.
However, it is an entirely different thing to say that nogah is not only on the outside, it is also part of our psychological makeup and that we have a third inclination that like nogah is good and evil together.
We find that in the past, when addressing the ongoing battle in the psyche between the good and the evil inclinations, this in-between inclination was hardly ever discussed. But as noted, as we approach the era of Mashiach and reality is nearing its rectification, it becomes imperative to discuss the nogah inclination because with its proper use lies the key to rectifying all of reality. The nogah inclination is the bridge, which all the sparks of holiness trapped in reality must cross. The beautiful allusion to this principle can be seen in the value of “the nogah inclination” (הַגֹּר נֶצֵי), which is the same as the value of “Mashiach” (מָשִׁיחַ), 358!
THE INCLINATION TO KNOW
What is the definition of the nogah inclination? The term “inclination” (רֶצֵי) is common in rabbinic texts. Following the expanded terminology of his predecessors, the Alter Rebbe in the Tanya adopts the term nefesh, which literally means anima (in Latin), or life-force. Instead of speaking of simply two inclinations, the Alter Rebbe upgrades the inner battle in most people to one between the animal anima (which most translate as “animal soul,” to prevent the confusing repetition) and the Divine anima (again, usually translated as “Divine soul). When pitting animas (nefashot, in Hebrew) against one another, the Alter Rebbe does introduce the concept of an intermediate anima, the intellectual anima, or intellectual soul. The intellectual soul naturally leans towards the animal soul (in fact, it develops out of the animal soul in the first 13 years of life) and therefore provides inner rationalization and justification for the negative leaning behavior of our animal soul. But the intellectual soul can be turned to assist the Divine soul by learning Torah and understanding what it is that God (not the animal soul) wants from us. If the intellectual soul becomes the assistant of the Divine soul, it can become the bridge to the ultimate rectification of the animal soul, explaining to it in its native language why to serve God.
With this in mind, we can now state that the nogah inclination originates in the intellectual soul and identify it with the intellect’s innate curiosity. Every inclination represents an attraction. The good inclination is attracted to holiness, the evil inclination is attracted, well, to evil. The good inclination’s attraction is alluded to in the words, “the spirit of men, does it strive upwards,” and the evil inclination’s attraction is alluded to in the continuation, “and the spirit of the animal, does it strive downwards to earth.” The in-between nogah inclination, whose spiritual origin is from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is attracted to knowledge. It wants to know everything there is to know, whether good or bad.
Rebbe Isaac of Homil writes that the good inclination is attracted to what is above reality—the realm of holiness and Godliness out of which reality comes into being; the evil inclination is attracted to what is below reality—the realm of the impure, the realm of non-being where reality is negated and becomes imaginary.
Expanding on this observation, we say that the nogah inclination is attracted to reality itself. It wants to know all that is, as it is, to collect knowledge, and to experiment with reality.
To state this another way, the good inclination craves the holy Name, Havayah, God’s essential Name and its instruction: “Havayah is one.” The evil inclination craves false gods (אֱלִילִים), whose Hebrew equivalent literally means “non-existent.” The nogah inclination is a craving for God’s Name Shakai (י-ד-ש), an acronym for “Who said ‘Enough!’ to His world.” This is God’s Name that limits nature, making it possible for the limited human mind to know and understand it. But, from the holiness of Shakai also derives the “demon” (דֵּש), the negative dimension of the realm of nogah.
Our nogah inclination, our curiosity knows no bounds. It finds everything interesting. It is curious about what people say is good and what people say is bad (assuming that perhaps it’s not all that bad, etc.). The nogah inclination’s curiosity also pushes it to experiment. Why trust other people’s testimonial when you can try something for yourself. It even knows a bit of Torah and quotes, “no one is as wise as he who has experience.” So, it argues, it is not enough to read about psychedelic experiences, I should experiment with them myself. Maybe they will do me good.
There is no escaping the fact that the nogah inclination is increasingly dominant in today’s reality. It is the point of origin for addictions, one of the hallmarks of our generation, especially addictions to media in general and social media in particular. Even when the content viewed is seemingly neutral, the addiction itself is destructive. It is now pushing people to experiment with AI and drawing them to seek to know something about everything. All this is the handiwork of our nogah inclination.
THE POSITIVE AND THE NEGATIVE IN CURIOSITY
The nogah curiosity inclination leans to the negative. It has no kabalat ol, meaning it sees no authority higher than its own, which is why it wants to try everything for itself. It does not accept other’s definitions of what is good and what is bad. It is invested in experiencing itself whether something is pleasure or a scourge to be avoided.
Put another way, curiosity has no boundaries and what does not have limits will eventually end up in the worst of places. Evil tongue—all manners of negative speech about others—also originates from this inclination to know everything about other people. This is the reason why every academic work must also criticize the subject it studies.
Still, curiosity is innate to man and sets humans apart from all other creatures. It is responsible for all the progress humanity has made in all areas. It is the root of all scientific inquiry. Without it, we could not break out of our limited knowledge, discover new science, and invent new technologies. From time immemorial, technology and progress are viewed positively in Torah, beginning with Noah who, by inventing the plow, brought tranquility Above and below.
Indeed, in the future, despite the negative-leaning nature of the nogah inclination, the good will be triumphant. This will happen when curiosity matures enough to seek the good in reality. As the Izhbitzer Rebbe writes, when the commandment to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge is punctuated differently—“from all the trees of the Garden you shall eat and from the Tree of Knowledge of good; and evil, you shall not eat from it”—when our craving for knowledge will focus on the good, we will be able to elevate the evil as well. Evil will then not just be transformed into “good,” it will be transformed into the “very good.”
