Rasha

Question:

How can someone ever be considered a rasha according to Rav Dessler's concept of nekudas habechira? If everyone has their own realm of choice -- and as Rav Dessler says (I think) a thief's nekudas habechira might be between two bad things, where one isn't as bad as the other, meaning that sometimes someone's personal battlefield is between a smaller aveirah and a bigger one, not a mitzvah vs. aveirah -- then isn't it true that a rasha choosing to murder 10 people instead of 500 and a beinoni choosing to speak a sentence of loshon hara instead of a whole hour of it are on the same level in terms of their nekudas habechira? Both are choosing the worse of the two options on the personal battlefield Hashem has given them -- and according to Rav Dessler, you are judged based on your personal battlefield -- so why is the first person called a rasha and the second a beinoni if technically both choices were the better of two bad choices? How can anyone EVER be called a rasha al pi nekudas habechira? Thank you.

Answer:

Hello,

There is a distinction between committing aveiros and understanding "nekudas habechira." Hashem commanded us to perform mitzvos and avoid aveiros, and a person is judged based on their actions. If someone murders 10 people instead of 500, they will still be liable to punishment by Bais Din (assuming they were warned beforehand by two witnesses), even if their nekudas habechira is only to kill 10.

The same principle applies to positive commandments. A person who has consistently kept Shabbos—not turning on lights or doing melacha—is fulfilling the mitzvah at the highest standard. There’s no question they are not going to do melacha on Shabbos, nor do they have a yetzer hara for it. Will they be rewarded? Certainly, they upheld the highest standard of Shabbos.

R’ Dessler is not discussing whether someone is a tzaddik, beinoni, or rasha. He is simply explaining that levels below a person’s nekudas habechira are areas they have already conquered; the yetzer hara does not even attempt to persuade them to sin at that level. Our task is to continually elevate our nekudas habechira—the level where we still struggle. He

Returning to your example: if a person’s nekudas habechira is to kill either 10 or 500 people, and they restrain themselves from killing the 500 and only kill 10, will they be punished? Yes, they will—because they killed 10. Will they receive some reward for overcoming their yetzer hara to kill another 490? Yes, they will. While not killing 490 does not make them a beinoni, it does make them less of a rasha than before, and they are moving in the right direction.

Best wishes.