Chosen and Brought Near: Still Only in the Courtyard

11Or “Fortunate is the one You choose …” may speak of the tzaddik's humility. There are three kinds of tzaddikim. One tzaddik's soul longs and burns to serve Hashem, blessed be He, but some hindrance in him keeps him from raising himself and growing strong in His service. Another serves Hashem with Torah and prayer, but he knows it: he is aware that he serves Hashem and regards himself as a servant of Hashem. And another truly serves Hashem, yet in all the service he does he regards himself as not serving at all, as only a beginner in His service. This third is the one of whom it says, “Hashem appeared to him … while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.”¹ He sat “at the entrance of the tent”: in his own eyes he was only at the entrance of the tent of holiness. “In the heat of the day” means something as clear to him as the sun: in the simplicity of his heart it was settled beyond doubt that he was only a beginner. That is “Fortunate is the one You choose and bring near”: You, Hashem, choose him and bring him near, and still he is not important in his own eyes. It seems to him that he only “dwells in Your courts,” in the courtyard in front of the house, and has not entered into holiness at all. So the true tzaddik always thinks. This is easy to understand.