I am very excited for the opportunity to share words of Torah with you. Each week, in this spot, I look to share an idea I've found that speaks to me and that I think will resonate with you as well. This week, I share with you an excerpt from an article by Rabbi Menachem Weiman entitled ‘Two Strategies for Life', speaking of the different strategies of the Yetzer HaRa - Evil Inclination, and how to combat them.
This Torah portion speaks about one of the monumental events that changed life for the children of Israel for future generations: [...] What is curious, is that the nation had recently witnessed so many miracles. The spies were all top-notch leaders and righteous individuals. How could they make a mistake and not trust God?
Spirituality can be confusing. We can view the positive as negative, and vice versa. Sometimes the seemingly "spiritual" thing to do is actually not the moral thing to do. Sometimes the more "spiritual" path ahead of us is actually not the challenge that will cause us more growth, but part of our comfort zone. If you're mad at your friend, should you meditate to calm yourself down, or should you confront your friend with her wrongdoing? Which path is easier? Which will cause you more growth? Should you do both? Is this a time for rebuke or a time for forgiveness? A time for war or a time for peace?
The spies and the nation made a mistake, because the choice was not between right and wrong, but between right and more right. Once you are on a spiritual path, it's very difficult for the "yetzer hara" to test you with outright transgressions. You are already avoiding the obvious transgressions. Sure, once in a while the yetzer hara can convince you, trick you into a real transgression, but usually you're on your guard. The yetzer hara is the part of you that steers you away from God and spirituality. It is not the real you; it is a foreign element inside you.
So the yetzer hara has no choice but to come to you in disguise. "What a mitzvah you will do by helping the neighbor put together his pool table for two hours on Sunday!" A kindness for your fellow man? Never mind that your wife has been asking you to fix the screen door for weeks.
[...] The yetzer hara has two types of strategies: straight on, or in disguise. We need to be on the lookout for both. That's why in the evening prayer service, we ask the Almighty to protect us from the "Satan in front and behind." Satan "in front" is when it comes straight on trying to entice you to do what you know is wrong; "from behind" is when it comes disguised as a mitzvah.
[...] Actually, you can even use the same strategy on the yetzer hara itself. Sometimes we can fight the yetzer hara head-on, and sometimes we need to be sneaky. When it's late at night and the yetzer hara tells you to go to sleep, rather than read a page or two of Torah, you can try to face it head on and say, "I will not go to sleep!" Or you can say, "Well lets just stay up a minute or two to have a few pretzels." And then slip in a page or two of Torah study while your yetzer hara is busy with the pretzels. Through trial and error, you will gain a sense of what type of strategy will work best for different situations. [...]
Have a Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Davies
Rabbi@SOICherryHill.org
