Hidden -- in full view

One of my Facebook friends is very keen to meet a “tzaddik nistar”—a truly righteous person whose attributes are not publicised and are hidden from the public at large. This poses a problem: there is no obvious way to find one and, even if you do come across one, how will you know? One might draw an imperfect analogy with the fictional character of Clark Kent, whose colleagues at the Daily Planet newspaper were unaware that he was Superman even though they worked with him on a regular basis.

Jewish tradition has much to say about hidden tzaddikim, their holiness, their special powers and their closeness to God. But what does Pirkei Avot have to say about them

The noun “tzaddik” scarcely appears in Avot. It cannot be found at all in the five chapters of mishnayot, making its appearance just once in the first baraita of the sixth chapter where a person who learns Torah for its own sake is primed to become one. By contrast, the word “chasid”, an almost untranslatable word indicating a person who is both pious and really enthusiastic about getting his relationships with God and other humans right, is found all over the place in the same tractate.

There is however more to say on the subject since being a “tzaddik” is a concept that underpins our very study of Avot--and this word, like the tzaddik nistar, is hidden in full view.

The recitation of every chapter of Avot is preceded by a statement that every Jew has a share in the World to Come. This statement is supported by a quote from Isaiah (60:21) that opens with the words “And Your people are all tzaddikim…” There is an important message here.

While popular Jewish culture conjures up the image of a tzaddik as being an old man with a long, flowing beard, a hot-line to God and an aura of sanctity and mystery, the truth is that anyone and everyone has the capacity to be a tzaddik: all you have to do is exercise your own free will in order to devote yourself to acting, speaking and thinking in a way that is righteous and in accordance with God’s will. Most of us can’t be bothered to do this since it involves too much deep commitment and hard work, so we get on with our own lives and look for other people to be a tzaddik on our behalf and for our convenience.

We are all capable of being tzaddikim, every single one of us, if only we want to—and even if we make many mistakes in the process of turning ourselves into better versions of our existing selves. This is why the Book of Proverbs (24:16) states:

כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨בַע יִפּ֣וֹל צַדִּ֣יק וָקָ֑ם וּ֜רְשָׁעִ֗ים יִכָּשְׁל֥וּ בְרָעָֽה

“though the tzaddik falls seven times, he gets up, but the wicked stumble in evil”.

It doesn’t matter how many mistakes we make, if we are prepared to recover from them, draw a line behind them and get on with leading a better life—a life in which the moral principles of Avot have a potentially big part to play. And if we are not yet tzaddikim, each of us is at least a tzaddik in the making.

So the moral of the story is this. If you want to see a tzaddik, or at any rate a potential one, a tzaddik in the making, just look in the mirror. And if you think the person you see in the mirror doesn’t look like a tzaddik, it might just be because you are looking at a tzaddik nistar.