The Evil Inclination (Noach)

The Evil Inclination

In this week’s Torah portion, Noach, God brings a flood that destroys every living thing except for Noah and his Ark. Then God vows that He will never again do what He has just done, but comments:

יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו -- Yetzer lev ha-adam ra' min'orav.

The inclination of a man's heart is evil from his youth. [Genesis 8:21; 6:5].

The Talmud adds that “from his youth” means “from his birth”. [Berakhot Y 3:5]

But Judaism teaches that we are not only evil: Everyone has an Evil Inclination (in Hebrew, yetzer ha-ra') and a Good Inclination (in Hebrew, yetzer ha-tov). The Evil Inclination is what incites us to do prohibited things, to do permitted things to excess, to insist on instant gratification at any price, to fall to temptation, and to demand from others without caring what happens to them. This is the typical behavior of a child.

The commentary Avot de Rabbi Natan says:

It is said that the Evil Inclination is thirteen years older than the Good Inclination. It arrives when man is born and grows with him, so that he transgresses commandments, and there is nothing in his mind to chastise him. But when he is thirteen years old, the Good Inclination arrives. [Avot de Rabbi Natan 16:12]

The Tosafot, medieval commentators, elaborate:

The Good Inclination is given to a person in his mother's womb, where he knows the entire Torah. And at the time of birth, the Evil Inclination enters and banishes the Good Inclination until the person matures, and [then] the Good Inclination enters [once again]. [Piskei Tosafot to Nedarim 62]

So the Good Inclination is a sign of maturity, of transition from childhood to adulthood.

The Talmud also finds an allusion to it in the story of Creation:

Rav Nachman ben Rav Hisda expounded: What is meant by the text [in Genesis], “Then the Lord God formed man?” [Gen. 2:7] [The word for “formed”, וַיִּיצֶר֩ va-yitzer] is written with two yods [when one would have been enough], to show that God created [man with] two inclinations, one good and the other evil. [Berakhot 61a]

Interestingly, the Sages never mention destroying the Evil Inclination. It cannot be done. It is here to stay. We can only subdue it, not get rid of it entirely. We are taught that we can dominate it, decline to succumb to it, not fall into temptation. God said in the Torah:

נָתַ֤תִּי לְפָנֶ֙יךָ֙ הַיּ֔וֹם אֶת־הַֽחַיִּ֖ים וְאֶת־הַטּ֑וֹב וְאֶת־הַמָּ֖וֶת וְאֶת־הָרָֽע׃

I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil. [Deut. 30:15]

In other words, “I have given you a choice.” It’s up to us to exercise that choice.

Obviously, the rabbis have always thundered against the Evil Inclination and had a lot to say about it. A search for the standard Jewish sources gives 212 returns for “Evil Inclination”, but only 31 for “Good Inclination”. A Google search gives 108,000 returns for “Evil Inclination”, but only 24,000 for “Good Inclination”. Here are some significant quotes:

In Pirkei Avot, Ben Zoma says:

אֵיזֶהוּ גִבּוֹר, הַכּוֹבֵשׁ אֶת יִצְרוֹ

Who is mighty? He who subdues his [Evil] Inclination. [Avot 4:1]

And Rabbi El’azar HaKappar says:

Do not let your [Evil] Inclination convince you that the grave is a refuge for you. [Avot 4:22]

In other words, don’t ever believe that death is better than life.

The Midrash says:

If anyone makes a stand and subdues and dominates his Evil Inclination, like Moses in his time, David in his time, or Ezra in his time, his whole generation depends on him. [Song of Songs Rabbah 4:7]

Elsewhere, the Midrash also says:

[It says in the Book of Proverbs:]

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light. [Prov. 6:23]

Why is the teaching called “light”? Because it often happens that when one is eager to fulfil a commandment, the Evil Inclination within him dissuades him, saying: “Why do you want to perform this commandment and diminish your wealth? Instead of giving away to others, give to your own children.”

But the Good Inclination says to him: Give rather to a pious cause…

“For the commandment is a lamp”. Just as the light of the lamp is undiminished even if a million… candles are kindled from it, so will he, who gives towards the fulfillment of any commandment, not suffer any decrease in his possessions. [Ex. Rabbah 36:3]

The Talmud says:

Rabbi Shim’on ben Levi said: A man's Evil Inclination gains strength against him every day, and seeks to kill him… If it wasn’t for the help of the Holy One, blessed be He, he would not be able to prevail against it. [Kiddushin 30b]

So we need God’s help to overcome evil impulses.

Rav Shmuel bar Nahmani, citing Rabbi Jochanan, stated, “The Evil Inclination entices man in this world, and then testifies against him in the World to Come.” [Sukkah 52b]

…adding insult to injury.

The Midrash even tells us that we complained to God about our free will and asked for it to be removed:

Israel complained: “If a potter leaves a pebble in the clay, and the jar leaks, is the potter not responsible? You have left the Evil Inclination in us. Remove it, and we will do Your will!”

God replied: “This I will do in the time to come. [That is, in the afterlife.]” [Exodus Rabbah 46.4]

So after death we become perfect beings, like angels. Life becomes purely spiritual. It takes on a very different form.

End of Part One. Everything so far has been straightforward, black-and-white, linear … and preachy! And roughly similar to what many religions teach, give or take a few minor variations.

Now here comes the unexpected Jewish twist: The Evil Inclination is a good thing!

The Torah says that everything God created was just “good”. The phrase “it was good” is used six times: after the creation of light, of the earth and the seas, of the plants, of the heavens, of the water and air creatures, and of the earth creatures. Then the Torah adds:

וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד

And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.

[Gen 1:31].

What was added at the end to make it “very good” -- tov me-od?

Answer: The Evil Inclination! The Midrash says [Genesis Rabbah 9:7] :

Nachman said, in Rav Shmuel's name: “And, behold, it was very good” refers to the Evil Inclination. Can then the Evil Inclination [then] be “very good”? That would be extraordinary!

Yes, [because] without the Evil Inclination, no man would build a house, take a wife, beget a family, and engage in work.

So said [King] Solomon [in Ecclesiastes]: “And I saw that all labor and all achievement in work was the result of man's envy and rivalry with his neighbor.” [Eccl. 4:4]

This is a severe indictment of mankind. It suggests that we achieve things:

-to show off, to gain the admiration of others,

-to have more money or possessions,

-to “get the girl” (or the boy),

-to do better than our neighbors, to be ahead of the competition,

-to win prizes,

-to exercise power (some even say that sex is an act of violence, power and domination, even under the best conditions),

-to show those who said we would never amount to anything, or

-to leave worthy deeds behind, to ensure we are remembered after we die.

None of this is altruistic. Without these base incentives, we would not achieve anything. There would be no progress. They are essential for the continued existence of the world. The driving force behind all our successes is bad impulses.

So it is no surprise that the Talmud says:

Abaye said: The greater the man, the greater his Evil Inclination. [Sukkah 52a]

Now we know why the great are great! Their means and motivations are not always honorable.

The lesson is that we only need to control the Evil Inclination, not destroy it. A small amount of it is good. It is life's driving force. In the Talmud, Rabbi Alexandri says:

The Evil Inclination is like the leaven in the dough. [Berakhot 17a]

A little makes bread good, a lot destroys it.

Also, one can't appreciate the good without the bad. Rabbi Aryeh Lieb Heller of Stry, an 18^th-century Galician Talmudist, said:

In a life without struggle, the “good” will be weak.

Upon reflection, one can understand and accept the notion that the Evil Inclination can lead to good things. But one wonders, though: Why is the Good Inclination alone not enough to achieve things? One answer is that it is possible to care too much to do any good.

For example, in the popular science-fiction series Star Trek, there is an episode where Captain Kirk splits into two people, an Evil Kirk and a Good Kirk. The Evil Kirk is a brutal savage who only wants to kill and plunder. The Good Kirk is overflowing with compassion and empathy. So much so that it leads him to paralysis: He sees that no matter what he does, some people might get hurt, and that is a thought he cannot bear. So he can’t do anything.

In another example, imagine a surgeon having to operate on a loved one -- his son or her daughter. His eyes are full of tears, his hands are shaking, his mind is full of dark thoughts, he is extremely anxious. This is not good when you are about to operate. He cares too much. He should care a lot less to be effective. (But still care enough to want to be a doctor in the first place.)

So what should we do? Try to turn evil impulses into good. For example, one who has a lust for blood should become a surgeon, or a butcher, or a soldier in wartime. The Talmud says:

Rav Nachman was once told by [his wife] Yaltha: “Observe, for everything that the Divine Law has forbidden us, it has permitted us an equivalent.” [Chullin 109b]

In this case, being a murderer is forbidden, but being a surgeon or a butcher is permitted.

The Talmud emphasizes that the Evil Inclination can always be put to constructive use:

[Why does the Torah say:] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart? [Deut. 6:5]. With all your heart means with both your inclinations, the Evil Inclination as well as the Good Inclination. [Berakhot 54a]

The Talmud adds that God may have created the Evil Inclination, but He also created its antidote, the Torah:

The Holy One, blessed be He, spoke to Israel: My children!

I created the Evil Inclination, but I [also] created the Torah, as its antidote.

If you occupy yourselves with the Torah, you will not be delivered into its hand… But if you do not occupy yourselves with the Torah, you will be delivered into its hand… If you will it, you can rule over it. [Kiddushin 30b]

Given the above, why don’t the Sages tell people to follow the Evil Inclination occasionally? Because the result would be an absolute stampede! People would say: The rabbi said that it is OK to follow the Evil Inclination on occasion. “On occasion” means once a week, right? No, I think it means once every five days. No, every three days. Let’s go out and have some fun tonight!

That would not work. Better exhort people not to follow the Evil Inclination, and hopefully they will follow it just enough to do “good” things!

In conclusion, Hillel best summed up the tension and the needed balance between the two opposing urges, when he said, in the Talmud:

אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי. וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי. וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי

Im en ani li mi li? Uchshe-ani le-‘atsmi ma ani? [Avot 1:14]

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? [That’s the Evil Inclination.]

And if I am for myself alone, what am I? [That’s the Good Inclination.]

May we all find the proper balance in our lives.

Shabbat shalom.