From tzaddik to the joy of the upright

כתיב אור זרוע לצדיק ולי"ל שמחה.

It is written: "light is sown for the tzaddik, and for the upright of heart, joy" (Tehillim 97:11).

The Sefas Emes opens with this pasuk that distinguishes between two levels — the "tzaddik," for whom light is sown, and the "upright of heart" (yishrei lev), for whom there is simchah.

ובגמרא תענית איתא לא הכל לאורה צדיקים אורה ולישרים שמחה.

And in Gemara Taanis it is brought: "not all [merit] light equally — tzaddikim [merit] light, and the upright [merit] joy" (Taanis 15a).

The Gemara clarifies that "light" and "joy" are not the same: the tzaddik receives light, while the yashar receives joy, a distinct and higher gift.

פרש"י שם דשמחה עדיף מאורה ע"ש.

Rashi explains there that joy is superior to light, see there.

Rashi establishes the key point: simchah is a higher madreigah than orah, so the "yashar" stands above the "tzaddik."

ונראה כי ישר הוא כמו שהי' קודם החטא דכ' עשה את האדם ישר.

And it appears that "yashar" (upright) is like [the state] before the sin, as it is written "[God] made man upright (yashar)" (Koheles 7:29).

The Sefas Emes defines yashar as the pristine state of Adam before the sin, when man was created "upright" — whole and undivided, without any inner conflict.

ואחר החטא שנעשה תערובות טוב ורע אז נעשה בחי' צדיק ורשע כי צדיק הוא ברובו כמ"ש כל שזכיותיו מרובין ה"ז צדיק.

And after the sin, when an admixture of good and evil came to be, then the aspect of "tzaddik and rasha" came into being — for a tzaddik is [defined] by his majority, as it says "whoever has a majority of merits is a tzaddik" (Kiddushin 40b).

Once the sin of Adam introduced a mixture of good and evil into man, the very categories of "righteous" and "wicked" emerged. A "tzaddik" is now only one whose good outweighs his bad — meaning some evil still remains within him.

אבל בחי' ישר הוא שלא יהי' שום התנגדות.

But the aspect of "yashar" is that there be no opposition at all.

The yashar is on a higher plane than the tzaddik: in him there is no inner resistance of evil whatsoever — a complete, unmixed state like before the sin.

לכן כתיב בנח איש צדיק.

Therefore it is written of Noach "a righteous man (ish tzaddik)" (Bereishis 6:9).

Noach is called a "tzaddik," not a "yashar," because he lived after the sin amid the mixture of good and evil — he had to overcome opposition, attaining the level of tzaddik rather than the unblemished uprightness of yashar.

ואברהם אבינו התחיל לתקן כל שורש החטא והוא הדרך שזכו בנ"י בכח התורה.

And Avraham Avinu began to rectify the entire root of the sin, and this is the path by which Bnei Yisrael merited [the level of yashar] through the power of the Torah.

Avraham initiated the repair of the original sin at its root, opening the path — later given through Torah — by which Bnei Yisrael could reach the unmixed state of yashar, beyond the level of tzaddik that Noach represented.

כדכ' יצפון לישרים תושי' וזה א"א להיות בדרך הטבע.

As it is written "He stores away sound wisdom (tushiyah) for the upright (yesharim)" (Mishlei 2:7); and this cannot come about through the natural way.

Hashem reserves a special hidden gift for the yesharim. Reaching this level of uprightness is impossible by natural means alone — it transcends the post-sin natural order of mixed good and evil.

רק האבות המשיכו זה הדרך לעולם.

Only the Avos drew this path into the world.

It was the forefathers who brought this supernatural path of yashrus into the world, making it accessible to their descendants.

וע"ז כ' ולישרי לב שמחה כי שמחה הוא כשאין תערובות סט"א כלל.

And about this it is written "and for the upright of heart, joy" — for joy is [present only] when there is no admixture of the sitra achra (the side of impurity) at all.

True simchah is reserved for the yishrei lev precisely because complete joy is possible only in a state utterly free of any admixture of evil — the unmixed uprightness of yashar.

וכמו שהי' קודם החטא.

As it was before the sin.

This joyful, unmixed state mirrors the original purity of mankind before Adam's sin.

כשמחך יצירך בג"ע מקדם.

"As You gladdened Your creation in Gan Eden of old" (from the wedding berachos).

The Sheva Berachos recall the joy of Adam and Chavah in Gan Eden before the sin — the paradigm of pure simchah without any admixture of evil.

ומעין זה הוא ימי שמחה דסוכות ע"י שביוה"כ נמחלו כל העונות.

And a semblance of this is the days of joy of Sukkos, by virtue of the fact that on Yom Kippur all the sins were forgiven.

The simchah of Sukkos is a taste of that pre-sin joy, because Yom Kippur has just wiped away all sins, briefly restoring a state free of the admixture of evil.

ובכל שנה בעשי"ת בכלל ניתקן איזה פרט מן חטא הכולל של אדה"ר לכן הוא בחי' ולישרי לב שמחה.

And every year during the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Repentance), in general, some particular detail of the all-encompassing sin of Adam HaRishon is rectified; therefore it is the aspect of "and for the upright of heart, joy."

Each year the Ten Days of Teshuvah repair another piece of Adam's original sin, restoring a measure of the unmixed yashar state — and that is why the season culminates in the pure simchah of Sukkos, "joy for the upright of heart."

[וי"ל ג"כ דבחי' הלולב היא אור זרוע לצדיק שהוא הכנה לכל השנה כשיהי' תערובות לכן רמזו בלולב ראשון לחשבון עונות]

[And one may also say that the aspect of the lulav is "light sown for the tzaddik," which is a preparation for the whole year, when there will [again] be admixture; therefore they hinted regarding the lulav that it is "the first day for the reckoning of sins."]

The lulav corresponds to "light sown for the tzaddik" — a stored preparation for the year ahead, when the mixture of good and evil returns. This is why Chazal call the first day of Sukkos "the first for the reckoning of sins": the pure joy is now being "sown" as light to sustain the tzaddik's struggle through the mixed year to come.

ומ"מ הוכרח נח לתקן מקודם בחי' צדיק ואח"כ באו האבות בבחי' ישרים שכ"כ אור זרוע לצדיק אח"כ לישרי לב שמחה.

And nevertheless, Noach first had to rectify the aspect of "tzaddik," and afterward the Avos came in the aspect of "yesharim" — for so it is written "light is sown for the tzaddik," and afterward "for the upright of heart, joy."

There is a necessary order: Noach first had to establish the level of "tzaddik" (light sown), and only afterward could the Avos build upon it to reach the higher level of "yashar" (joy). The very sequence of the pasuk — first tzaddik, then yashar — reflects this progression.

ומעין זה יש בכל שנה כמו שהי' בכלל הדורות בפסח זמן חירותינו להגאל מפסולת התערובות טו"ר ואח"כ זוכין לתורה ונעשין ישרים כנ"ל:

And a semblance of this exists every year, just as it was in the general [course of] the generations: on Pesach, the time of our freedom, [we come] to be redeemed from the "waste" of the admixture of good and evil, and afterward we merit the Torah and become "yesharim," as above.

This same pattern recurs annually: Pesach frees us from the "waste" of the good-evil mixture (the tzaddik's labor of separation), and then Shavuos brings the Torah, by which we ascend to become yesharim — pure and unmixed — just as Noach's "tzaddik" stage preceded the Avos' "yashar" stage in history.

Summary: The pasuk "light is sown for the tzaddik, and for the upright of heart, joy" reflects two madreigos. A "tzaddik" exists only after Adam's sin introduced the admixture of good and evil — he is defined merely by a majority of merits, so some opposition still remains within him (this is Noach, called "ish tzaddik"). The "yashar," by contrast, is the unmixed state from before the sin, with no inner opposition at all, and only such purity allows for complete simchah. Avraham began to repair the root of the sin, and through Torah Bnei Yisrael can reach this supernatural level of yashrus. This plays out yearly: the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Yom Kippur restore a measure of pre-sin purity, yielding the joy of Sukkos, while the lulav "sows light" to sustain the tzaddik through the mixed year ahead. Just as Noach's "tzaddik" preceded the Avos' "yashar," so Pesach frees us from the waste of admixture before Shavuos elevates us, through Torah, to become yesharim.