There is a verse in Psalm 92, which we read every Friday night as we usher in the holy Shabbos: Tzadik kaTamar Yifrach – A Tzadik (righteous person) will flourish like a palm tree.
Rebbe Nachman asks why is it that a Tzadik is compared to a palm tree?
He answers by explaining that the Hebrew word for palm tree, Tamar, comes from a linguistic root, meaning To Exchange.
He goes on to explain that a Tzadik, essentially is not just someone who looks and acts saintly, but rather a person who has the ability to take any experience of reality, no matter how bad, and exchange it for something good. It is someone who can completely override negativity and not only transform it to good, but exchange it for good.
Consider the following; A person may get insulted by his friend. His natural reaction is to become upset. He reacts by saying something he shouldn’t. Then he feels remorse. He apologises, and everybody is now friends. – They may be friends, but they are friends who just traded terrible insults. This is an example of transforming bad into good. On the other hand, someone who exchanges bad for good, never even registered the insult in the first place.
Many can transform something bad into good. Many can learn from their mistakes. But their mistakes remain mistakes. However, very few are able to exchange bad for good. By exchanging, they take absolutely no ownership of the evil at all.
Such a person, with such a talent is deemed to be the truly righteous individual, the Tzadik, worthy of emulation.
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