What’s in a Word?

emotion

will

רצון · חפץ · צבי

Bottom line

Ratzon is will: the wanting a man chooses with his mind, and so as a rule aimed at something good (Malbim). Chefetz is desire: the stronger, more concrete pull that comes unchosen and can fasten on what is bad for him; the majority (Rabbi Pappenheim, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, Rabbi Margolios, Malbim) rank it the more intense of the two. Tzvi in the sense of wanting is yearning, a wanting that persists (Rabbi Pappenheim). Never swap them: ratzon is not "desire" and chefetz is not "will". Minority: Rabbi Edel reads the pair as means (ratzon) against final goal (chefetz); keep it in mind when a passage speaks of retzon Hashem.

Distinctions

ratzon (רצון)

Root ר-צ-ה. Rabbi Aharon Marcus ties it to ratz, running: a man runs with more resolve toward what he wants; the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 5:8) folds eretz, ratz and ratzon into one idea, the Land running to do Hashem's will. Rabbi Pappenheim: ratzon is a plain "want", the milder of the pair. Malbim: ratzon is the mind's intellectual wanting, the exercise of free choice; since a man in his right mind does not choose what harms him, ratzon almost always names a good and noble wanting. The same word means appeasement, an attempt to sway another's free choice. Rabbi Margolios (Beis Middos): ratzon is the innate wish to do good. Rabbi Edel: ratzon covers both the means and the end, so the mitzvos, retzon Hashem, are means toward His ends (Makkos 3:16 on Yeshayahu 42:21). Aramaic raavon (the tzadi becomes ayin); Targum Onkelos uses it for chefetz and cheshek alike (Bereishis 34:8, 34:19; Devarim 21:11, 21:14, 25:8).

chefetz (חפץ)

Root ח-פ-ץ. A number of commentators: the stronger, more physical desire, where ratzon is the subtler wish to do right. Rabbi Pappenheim: a strong-willed wanting that is not easily suppressed. Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook: closer to perceivable reality and less abstract than ratzon; hence Mishnaic chafetzim for tangible objects (Rashi to Koheles 3:1). Rabbi Margolios: the animal, bodily drive; לעשות רצונך אלקי חפצתי (Tehillim 40:9) means the man has harnessed that drive to Hashem's will. Malbim: the soul's emotional desire, felt without being chosen, so it can want what is bad (Yeshayahu 66:3) and can block one's true ratzon, as with the brother who "does not want" (chafetz) to perform yibum (Devarim 25:7-8; Rus 3:13). Rabbi Bedersi objects: Scripture calls Hashem chafetz (Bamidbar 14:8; Yeshayahu 42:20, 53:10; Melachim I 10:9; Shmuel I 15:22; Tehillim 147:10), and Hashem has no unchosen wants, so chefetz too must be a wanting within free choice. (The column defends Malbim: the word is borrowed from the human case.) Rabbi Edel: chefetz is the final goal itself; Hashem's chefetz to give Yisrael merit drives His ratzon, the mitzvos. The Vilna Gaon confines chefetz to desire for food (see the taavah / chemdah entry).

tzvi (צבי)

Root צ-ב-ה. Rabbi Pappenheim derives it from "standing": the desirable thing stands before the mind continually, so tzvi is a lasting, even obsessive, yearning, as against a fleeting want. Rabbi Marcus: the deer is called tzvi because it runs, or because, being swift enough to escape, it is free to run after its heart's wants. In Aramaic tzvei is nearly synonymous with ratzon; Targum Onkelos renders cheshek (Devarim 7:7) and chefetz (Devarim 25:7) with it.

Rendering guidance

  • ratzon: "will" as a noun, "wants" or "wills" as a verb. Retzon Hashem: "Hashem's will", never "Hashem's desire".
  • chefetz: "desire"; as a verb "desires", or "wishes to" where the object is an act. Where it blocks the will (yibum), "he does not wish to" is fine, but keep it a different English word from the one used for ratzon.
  • tzvi in the desire sense: "yearning" or "longing"; do not use "coveted", which belongs to chemdah.
  • Together, Tehillim 40:9: "To do Your will I have desired." The will is Hashem's; the desire is the man's engine for doing it (Rabbi Margolios).
  • Trap: "desire" absorbs ratzon and chefetz; "want" absorbs all three. If the passage turns on the difference (a mussar sefer setting the will against the pull of the body), hold "will" for ratzon and "desire" for chefetz.
  • Rabbi Edel's axis is worth keeping when the subject is Hashem: His chefetz may read "purpose" and His ratzon "will" (Makkos 3:16).
  • Cheshek (חשק) is not defined in this article; Targum treats it like chefetz. Render "longing" and check the dedicated entry once one exists.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Running on Willpower," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 28 Teves 5780 (2020-01-25): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/8573-running-on-willpower.md. Primary loci the article cites: Targum Onkelos to Bereishis 34:8, 34:19 and Devarim 7:7, 21:11, 21:14, 25:7-8; Bereishis Rabbah 5:8; Rashi to Koheles 3:1; Rabbi Margolios, Beis Middos, on Tehillim 40:9; Malbim on Yeshayahu 66:3 and Devarim 25:7-8, Rus 3:13; Bedersi's list of Hashem as chafetz (Bamidbar 14:8; Yeshayahu 42:20, 53:10; Melachim I 10:9; Tehillim 147:10; Shmuel I 15:22); Makkos 3:16 on Yeshayahu 42:21; the column's earlier "Deleterious Desires" (June 2017) for the Vilna Gaon on chefetz.