by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

In serving God, the ultimate victory in the soul of man is the triumph of one's good inclination over one's evil inclination. To the extent that one is victorious in this spiritual battle, he merits a metamorphosis of being.

Though the Torah does not require that all non-Jews convert fully to Judaism, it does require that they undergo a semi-conversion in order to become "righteous gentiles." Non-Jews must accept the seven Noahide laws conveyed to mankind by Moses, the servant of God, in the Torah. They thereby become transformed, and acquire a greater level of free will, as described above.

With regard to the righteous gentile, the Torah states: "and he shall live with you." He may live in the land of Israel, and it is incumbent on the People of Israel to provide for his welfare.

As with all the spiritual powers of the soul, victory possesses an inner dimension. This is the power of trust in God, and the sense of self-confidence born of the realization that God continuously provides each person with the spiritual resources necessary to rectify his behavior and character traits, and thus transform himself into a virtually new being.

Victory is the "branch" of loving-kindness. In Divine service, loving-kindness corresponds to the consciousness of continual re-creation. Victory is made achievable by the sense that it is always possible, and never too late, for one to rectify and transform one's self.

Victory follows the three previous states of consciousness--love, awe, and mercy. After experiencing God's love for him (to create him anew every second), one turns to Him in awe (the hallmark of manifest free will), and comes to recognize His mercy. The greatest miracle wrought by God is His gift to man of potential rectification (the attribute of victory).

Here as well, the non-Jew takes his lead from the Jew. The "victory" of the Jew entails the "climbing" of the levels inherent in his animal soul, and the merging of these levels with the energy source of his Divine soul. Initially, the animal soul of the Jew comes from what is referred to in Kabbalah as the "intermediate shell"--that state of being which possesses a mixture of good and evil. As the non-Jew undergoes the semi-conversion process necessary to become a righteous gentile, he ascends from his spiritual imprisonment within the "three impure shells" to become identified with the "intermediate shell." He thereby becomes similar in some ways to the "secular" side of the Jew. (For this reason, the Jewish nation is commanded to sustain him.) Were he to convert in full, he would acquire the holy, Divine soul of Israel itself.