english ki tetze
READY FOR WAR
כי תצא למלחמה על איוביך ונתת ד’ אלקיך בידך ושבית שביו (כא:י)
When you go out to war against your enemy, and Hashem, your G-d, gives you victory…
Our Sages tell us that this passuk is hinting at going to war against the Evil Inclination, our worst enemy. As the Chovot HaLevovot writes: Know this: Your greatest enemy in the world is your Evil Inclination…he gives you advice for your every step. While you sleep, he is awake plotting against you. He appears to you as a friend, and he becomes one of your most trusted friends and advisors… His greatest weapon against you is confusion and false arguments to make you forget your true interests and doubt your confirmed goals and beliefs… (Shaar Yichud Hamaaseh). The ways of the Evil Inclination are manifold. He always has new ideas, and he never gives up. When you thought you conquered him, you find that he has only gotten stronger. This is the general picture. The Rebbe from Pashische put it even more dramatically: You should always perceive the Evil Inclination as one who is standing over your head with an axe waiting for the moment to chop off your head. If you cannot perceive him as such, it means that he has already chopped off your head!
We need these pictures in order to prepare properly to make war against the Evil Inclination. In addition, each person must get to know the special characteristics of his own Evil Inclination against whom he must fight.
The metaphor of battling the Evil Inclination has always been extremely apt – all the way down to our time. We can illustrate this through the example of the modern tank, which was a product of World War One. During the war, the leaders of England and France (Allied Forces) looked for a way to break through the front lines of forts established by the Germans. After much thought and research, they concluded that this could be accomplished by vehicles with thick side walls to protect them from being stopped by machine-gun fire, and ones in which soldiers could hide and shoot. They also wanted a vehicle that could climb over obstacles and pass over trenches.
At last, a vehicle was invented that met all these requirements, and a squadron of them was to be brought to the front. The leaders of the Allied Forces wanted their new weapon to surprise and startle the enemy. To conceal their true identity as weapons, they were brought to the front lines as water carriers for the Mesopotamian campaign, and referred to as tanks (as in water tank).
The Evil Inclination works very much the same way. He presents himself as innocent – a mere water tank – or even as good. And he always invents new ways of doing things.
As for the essence of the Evil Inclination, the statements of the Sages may, at first glance, seem paradoxical. Is it an external angel or an inner part of the human psyche? On the one hand, we have a Talmudic passage which tells us that the Evil Inclination, the Satan (Adversary), and the Angel of Death are one and the same. The Evil Inclination attempts to get one to sin, and when he succeeds, he goes to the Heavenly Court as a prosecuting angel. When he succeeds in his prosecution, he returns to the world as the Angel of Death, and executes the punishment (Bava Batra 16a). From this description, it seems that the Evil Inclination is external. On the other hand, the Sages tell us that ever since Adam and Chavah ate from the Tree of Knowledge, the Evil Inclination resides within us (see (נפש החיים א’ פ”ו . This also seems to be reflected in the Chumash itself: “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Bereishis 8:21); “Love the L-rd, your G-d, with all your hearts“ (Devarim 6:5) – with both the good and the evil inclination (Rashi); “You should not have in you an alien god” (Psalms 91:10 ) – i.e., evil inclination (Shabbat 105b).
The resolution of this paradox lies in the observation of R’ Yisrael Salant that there are actually two Evil Inclinations – the internal and the external, or what he calls the Yetzer Hatumah and Yetzer Hata’avah (see Iggeret Hamussar). R’ Yisrael uses this to explain contradictions in a given person’s behavior that almost make the individual look like he has a split personality. He notes, for example, that while a person may have a desire for honor, this desire is strangely absent when it comes to honor for spiritual or ethical matters. He explains that this person’s inner desire for honor is being neutralized by an outside force (Yetzer Hatumah) which influences him not to look for honor in the spiritual or ethical realm.
Although it is often difficult to figure out whether the external Adversary or the internal Evil Inclination is operating, one thing is for sure: neither one has anything to do with our “inner self.” There is an “inner self” deeper inside than the “heart,” the abode of the Evil Inclination. In other words, the Torah perspective is that our bad habits are external, something we can fight against. This is an amazingly useful self-help concept! (If the Evil Inclination had been part of our inner self, we wouldn’t have had a chance.) This may well be hinted at by the Torah when it speaks of “going out to war against your Enemy.” Even the internal Inclination is not part of the inner self. With all this in mind, we are ready for war!
IMPROVING OUR SELF-IMPROVEMENT TECHNIQUES
With the Day of Judgment fast approaching, many of us try to do something about it by attending talks about improving ourselves – and especially about improving ourselves as Jews. Naturally, we listen closely to see if the speaker himself really feels what he is trying to convey. We do not necessarily insist that he has mastered the concepts, but we want to see that he is in the process, and “practices what he preaches.” If we conclude that the speaker is essentially mouthing the words, the effect of his talk on us will be very limited. This concept is hinted at in the words of our parashah: ובערת הרע מקרבך (דברים כא:כא) – Get rid of the evil within you … If you first work on ridding the evil inside of you, then you can affect others as well. When the other person perceives that you have worked hard to overcome a bad habit, negative trait, or the like, you can more readily motivate him to do likewise.
Of course, this applies not only in public speaking, but in many life areas, such as parenting. If a parent wants a child to improve in a certain area, it is much more effective to “walk the walk than to talk the talk.” One of my Rabbis would say that if you want your child to learn Torah, there is no better way to elevate Torah study in the child’s eyes than by being a living example of someone who takes Torah study seriously. This can be seen in the words of the Shema that we say three times a day: ושננתם לבניך ודברת בם… – Teach them to your sons and speak them … If you want your child to learn Torah, then you should speak words of Torah when you go to sleep and when you get up. Indeed, this holds true for all the virtues parents want their children to acquire, such as patience, compassion, respecting others, chessed, good manners, talking calmly, and proper eating habits. And, of course, being a good Jew in every way.
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In the High Holiday prayers, which we will soon be saying, we ask G-d to make His Kingship felt over the entire world: ותמלוך אתה ה’ אלוקינו על כל מעשיך – You, Hashem our G-d, exercise Your Kingship over all Your creations… The Alter of Kelm would explain that when we speak of accepting G-d as King over the entire world on this day, we should not mean only the physical world. We should also be referring to our own personal world, which includes our limbs and our senses. The sad truth is that a person can accept G-d’s rulership over his neighbors, children, students, etc., without first accepting G-d over himself.
A person who wants to better the world around him would do better with the understanding that G-d judges us on Rosh Hashanah one by one. Some people are bitter because of the people that are part of their world. But this is to focus on the problem, not the solution. We would do much better if we view life with the perspective of the Vilna Gaon and the Chafetz Chaim (ראה הח”ח על התורה, פר’ ואתחנן). Both cite a certain wise man who gave great advice for growth in devotion to Torah learning. He pointed to three causes that stop a person from devoting himself properly to Torah study:
*The feeling that even if I do not better my ways today, then I can still do so in the future.
*The feeling that even if I do not do my share of learning or bettering the world, there will be others who will do it in my stead.
*The feeling that since there are so many more pages of the Talmud to learn, why should I devote myself fully to the page that I am on now – especially since I know that I will never finish everything?
These three concepts apply not only to Torah study, but to improving ourselves as well. If we focus on ourselves with the understanding that 1) I am the only one I can change; 2) if not now, then never; 3) I can only deal with what I am presently trying to improve – then we will become better and more effective people.
Someone once found a קבלה, a written commitment in the handwriting of R’ Naftali Amsterdam zt”l, to the effect that he will reach out to and positively influence the lives of all humanity. They asked him how he plans to execute this. He responded: By living with extra adherence to every detail of the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) and by being a model of what a Jew is supposed to be.
We do not necessarily have to go out to far-away places to make a difference in the lives of people. We can do so much by just making a difference in the life of the person facing us in the mirror.
SHABBAT SHALOM rabbiyoseffarhi@gmail.com 0527161854
